Danny Phantom: The Exorcist
by Madnesz23
Summary: Just a rerun of the original Danny Phantom series, thus I don't own it. What I do instead is adjust scenes to an OC here, meaning a bit more drama, more havoc, and more Halfas or, if you are like me, Demis. Also, PP was weird so may work with that.
1. S1 - Mystery Meat

Amity Park, said to be the most 'haunted town' in the states, but none could really say why that was as there could be any sightings of ghosts in that little place.

All that changed when a special family came to Amity and set up shop, their name was the Fentons and they made a very special machine that would lead to the greatest adventure ever for a trio of friends and an additional companion when everything that goes ghost comes along...

* * *

In the basement of Fenton Works, a big bear of a man spoke up with a grin to his audience. "You and your little friends want to hunt ghosts?" The first one was the man's son by the name of Danny Fenton, the next two were the first friends of his with the African-American in the red hat Tucker Foley and the Gothic girl Same Manson, the last one was actually a late friend by the name of Cedric Trace, often going by the nickname of Tracer with friends, often found with a light jacket and a look that said 'Don't try my limit' as Danny spoke first.

"Uh, actually, Dad? I want to be an astronaut." Sam rolled her eyes as she answered as well.

"Sorry, Mr. Fenton. I _was_ into ghosts, but they're so mainstream now. They're like cellphones." Tucker played it off like a cool guy, which he never will be.

"Waste these looks and all this charisma hunting _ghosts_? Criminal." Cedric was next as he was using a PDA in tandem as he answered as well.

"It would happen if I had a actual sample of this 'ghost hunting' before I take it up." Danny glanced over to him who just smiled as Sam and Tucker lightly chuckled as Jack spoke up.

"Well, if you do want to hunt ghosts, there are a few things you need to learn." He turned his back to them as he trifled about a table of equipment before a blue wisp escaped Danny's lips and he gasped.

"Oh no." Bellowing in the back of the lab was a large, closed gateway and it opened up as Danny spoke. "This isn't good." Coming from the swirling green abyss were two octopus-like creatures with jagged mouths and red eyes, growling as they found prey, in a word. Before any of them could move, the two snatched Sam and Tucker and started to fly about with Danny agape and Cedric just studying the creatures as Jack spoke, heedless of what was happening.

"True, I've never seen a ghost, but when I do, I'll be prepared." Danny was still in shock as Jack continued. "And so will you. Whether you want to be or not." A look of determination crossed Danny's face as he jumped out of his seat and leapt after the ghosts with Cedric still detailing all of it with Jack just talking, a flash of white flashed in front of Cedric as he nodded and continued, having slipped on a pair of goggles that he got from the lab with Jack messing with the things as if he didn't know what to grab and show. "It all starts with your equipment."

Finally he pulled out a thermos and turned just as Sam and Tucker were placed back in their seats or rather flung on, still not noticing the ghost fighting in the background, not even showing where Danny had gone. "Sam, Tucker, Cedric, this is the Fenton Thermos." He handed the Thermos to Sam as the three friends looked at it before Cedric resumed the recording with Jack turning his back again, missing a ectopus flying past in a knock back. "It's supposed to trap ghosts_,_ but since it doesn't work yet, it's just a thermos. A thermos with the word 'Fenton' in front of it." The ghosts gave up and flew back into the portal as it closed and Danny returned, breathed as Cedric chuckled as Jack strolled over to the portal, still heedless of what just transpired a few seconds ago. "And _that_? That is the Fenton Portal. It releases ghosts into our world whether I want it to or not. And someday, I'll figure out how that..." He taps on the steel wall in continuation. "...works too." He turned to the trio still sitting. "Now, who wants to hunt some ghosts?" From the looks of it, Sam and Tucker's expressions said that they were FAR from eager from joining in a dangerous past time. Cedric just smiled as Danny rested a hand on Tucker's seat in exhaustion before Jack exclaimed.

"You kids, look at you! You're too excited to speak! So I'll just go on speaking. I was born many years ago in a log cabin in the woods. Don't exactly remember where, but I do remember I wanted a pony." The trio looked to Danny who hung his head to the incoming story. "Never got the pony. As a matter of fact, we had to eat horsemeat during the war. I had a problem with that."

* * *

Inside the Fenton Works building, littered with radar dishes and equipment from the regular structure of the brick building, resided the Fentons, a rather 'different' kind of family as the matriarch, Maddie Fenton, tinkered with an unknown device with Jack close by. Their eldest daughter, Jazz Fenton, glanced up from a book on psychology with a hard stare before returning, while Danny WAS eating breakfast before his hand disappeared, dropping his spoon and causing him to panic by hiding the now invisible hand under the table as Maddie spoke.

"Okay, two more days, and it's done!" She turned off the blowtorch she was using as Jack spoke up."

"What did you say?" He took the device in hand as he exclaimed. "It's done?" He then held it like a true marvel. "The Fenton Finder is done! This baby uses satellites to lead you right to the ghosts."

"It uses _what_ to track _what_?" Danny was not sure if satellites COULD track ghosts, but he didn't want to find out, which was impossible.

"Welcome to the Fenton Finder." A robotic female voice answered as it somehow knew. "A ghost is near. Walk forward." Danny walked with his parents in pursuit before he was backed into a wall of the house as they looked at him with confusion. He gave a weak smile as Jack spoke up, tapping on the machine with Maddie looking as well.

"What? Oh, that can't be right." If they had kept their eyes on Danny, they would have seen him disappear just like that and he gasping to recover and then giving a defeated look, to give up what had happened to him.

"Actually...I need to tell you guys something." Jazz took that moment to intervene, having NOT seen the same thing like her parents.

"That's not all you need, Danny." She had stood up and walked over to the trio as she spoke. "You need _guidance_, and parents who can provide it."

Maddie tried to reason with Jazz on the topic. "Sweetie, I know what we do doesn't make sense sometimes, but you're only-"

"Sixteen. Biologically!" Danny made to sneak away since the moment was ruined as Jazz continued her attack. "But psychologically, I'm an adult! And I will not allow your insane obsession with ghosts..." She grabbed Danny and held him as she continued the meaningless lecture. "...to pollute the mind of this impressionable little child!" Danny was completely weird out on how this conversation had changed from he about to relieve his latest secret to being 'guarded' by Jazz as she looked at him. "Come, you abused, unwanted wretch. I'll drive you to school." She cast a glare to both of their parents before heading off with Danny in tow as Maddie questioned.

"Huh. That's weird. Jasmine _never_ offers to drive Danny to school."

"That can only mean one thing. That's not our daughter; that's a ghost." He charged off to stop the 'ghost' and warn Danny. "Danny, no! It's a trap!" Maddie followed in pursuit as the pair of kids headed for the school...

* * *

Casper High School loomed as students came to and fro through its halls as Danny rejoined with Sam, Tucker, and Cedric and they headed up a flight of stairs before Danny spoke, bringing up what had nearly happened at breakfast. "I think I should tell them."

"Why? Parents don't listen." Sam answered as they came to a stop on the mid of the stairs. "Even worse, they don't understand!" She threw her head back and yelled about her own frustrations. "WHY CAN'T THEY ACCEPT ME FOR WHO I AM?!" The trio looked at Sam before Cedric sighed and added something on his PDA with a hushed breath of 'happy-goth troubles' before Danny answered.

"Sam, I-I'm talking about my powers, my problems?" Sam had a line of red spread across her face as she stammered in agreement.

"Oh, right. Me too."

"Questionable at best, Sam, I don't think you were THAT exposed to the portal." Danny groaned as he spoke.

"It's been a month since the accident and I still have barely any control!" He crossed his arms and huffed, heedless that his emotions were kicking in again. "If somebody catches me, I go from geek to _freak_ around here!"

"Kinda like what you're doing right now?" Tucker pointed out to Danny being halfway through the floor as he yelped before Sam and Tucker grabbed him by his arms, Cedric snatching his pack and the trio lifted him back up for his lower torso to return to normal before he grimaced again.

"Gah, darn it!" He headed off with the trio behind him as he commented. "If my dad can invent something that accidentally made me half-ghost, why can't he invent something that turns me back to normal?" He continued on through a snack machine and pressed on as his body returned before Sam spoke up to another halted period.

"Danny, your powers make you unique. Unique is _good_! That's why I'm an ultra recyclo-vegetarian." Tucker questioned what THAT meant.

"Which means _what_?"

"She doesn't eat anything with a face on it." Danny replied with pause as Cedric just prodded Danny a bit before he nodded and continued his notes.

"Oh, who cares about that stuff?" Tucker exclaimed with a smile. "Danny, two words: meat connoisseur." He smelled the air around Danny before replying. "Last night, you had Sloppy Joes." Danny raised a brow before he commented.

"Impressive."

"Meat heightens the senses, and my all-meat streak is fourteen years strong." That was QUESTIONABLE a bit more than Sam's statement as Sam brought the party down.

"...And it's about to end. The school board finally agreed to try a new cafeteria menu. I wore them down." She had a smile in return as Tucker lost his.

"Wait... What did you do?" Come lunchtime, the cafeteria had been changed greatly with a hefty amount of foliage and plants also being seen from the 'ultra recyclo-vegetarian week' banner, even some dirt-based materials as Danny got his... he wasn't sure what it was.

"What is this? Grass on a bun?" Cedric shrugged while Tucker lost it.

"WHAT HAVE YOU _DONE_?!"

"Tucker, it's time for a change." Sam commented with her own grass on a bun in hand, suddenly the lunch period was going to be interesting...

* * *

Back at Fenton Works, the Ghost Portal opened once more and emerging was a elderly ghost in lunch lady attire as she paused before she spoke in amuse. "Ooh! Somebody changed the menu!" She headed through the ceiling as Maddie and Jack were tampering with another tool, heedless of the ghost that just entered their world.

"Maybe this is a bad idea."

"No, it's perfect. When Jazz gets home we suck the ghost out of her..." Jack voiced with a 'vacuum cleaner' in hand and a action pose. "...with a Fenton X-tractor." Maddie still argued on the matter.

"But what if Jazz isn't a ghost? What if we accidentally hurt her?" Jack replied in kind.

"Maddie, the Fenton X-tractor doesn't hurt humans...unless it gets in your hair..." He turned it on and yelled as it caught his hair and ripped it out, he acting no worse for wear. "...See?"

* * *

Back at the cafeteria, Danny had some of the 'Turf-wich' on his spoon before asking. "Don't you think this is a little extreme, Sam?" He couldn't get any backup from Tucker as it was truly lost to the 'thing' before him and Cedric... was actually content with an apple, orange, and a bit of the Turfwich while Sam just smiled as someone rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Ah, Miss Manson." The individual was Mr. Lancer, an overweight teacher and vice-principal of the school as he commented on the 'change' with glee. "The school board wanted me to personally thank you for ushering in this welcome experiment to our cafeteria." Tucker perked up as he sniffed the air.

"Meat. Near." He smelled near Lancer and glared as the man backed up.

"No, no. The rumors about the new all-steak buffet in the teacher's lounge are completely untrue." Cedric raised a brow before he shook his head and just ate on to Lancer himself pulling out a toothpick and using it before putting a hand on Sam's shoulder again. "Thanks again."

Lancer leaves as Tucker huffs at the experience placed before him. "Yeah, thanks again for making us eat _garbage_, Sam."

"It's not garbage." She answered as she held it up for all to see in their small group. "It's recyclable organic matter." Danny and Tucker still had the same answer while Cedric just finished up and hummed before he returned to the data he somehow kept with him before drafting something up on it.

"It's garbage." Danny near-yelped as Cedric poked him with something and glanced over to find that he was still working on something with a bandage on Danny's shoulder, how does he do that!? No one noticed when the lunch lady headed off with a burger, but one noticed when the ghostly replacement came as the blue vapor came again as Danny spoke up in concern.

"Uh, guys? I've got a problem." No sooner did he say those words than a pile of mud was thrown into his head as he yelped to an angered voice.

"FENTON!" Danny turned with the mud dripping off him as he remarked.

"...Make that two problems." Dash, team captain of the Casper Ravens football team, stomped on over with a plate of... watery topsoil as Cedric saved the data and tapped his finger as the jock went into a rant.

"I ordered three mud pies. Do you know what they gave me? Three _mud_ pies. With mud. From the ground! All because of _your_ girlfriend!"

"She's/I'm not my/his girlfriend!" Danny and Sam yelled before Dash lifted Danny a few feet off the ground and continued.

"These are the best years of my life! After high school, it's all downhill for me! How am I supposed to enjoy my glory days eating _mud_?!"

Cedric huffed and a wince went through the jock. "Am I suppose to take your 'clean slate' as a fact that you have NEVER bitten the dirt in football, that's part of the fun in the sport." The dead eye stare would ensure a surefire way of crippling the jock, if Sam had not spoken up.

"Actually, it's topsoil." That broke Dash's spell as he tossed Fenton back into his seat in yelling."

"Whatever!" He then pushed the topsoil straight to Danny and demanded. "Eat it. _All_ of it." Danny grimaced as he spooned some up, but the vapor came again, no one really noticing before Danny stammered and suddenly decided on a course, having now seen the elderly ghost of a lunch lady.

"Uh...uh..." He glanced to the plate and shouted, surprising everyone. "GARBAGE FIGHT!" He threw true and the plate of muddy topsoil slammed into Dash's face, the effect widespread as the other students started to throw the menu food about the place as Sam shouted, having taken cover with the trio.

"It's not _garbage_! It's-" Danny snatched Sam and pulled her down toward the floor before they made their way in crawling, Danny looked back to Dash threatening.

"You're gonna pay for this, Fenton!" He was brought down by two servings of mud as Danny commented.

"Great. I'm still his favorite." The four of them made it to the cafeteria door and the boys peered over to the Lunch Lady who was looking over the 'vegan options' with surprise as Tucker lead up.

"Huh. Shouldn't be so bad. She looks a little like my grandmother." They slipped in with Sam behind them as Danny rubbed his head in confusion with Cedric crossing his arms.

"Shouldn't she be haunting a bingo hall?"

"That is a bit rude, both of you, have some respect for our jobs... and ghosts, I don't believe that they are emotionless." Cedric commented as the door closed, drawing the ghost's attention as she spoke to them.

"Hello, children. Can you help me? Today's lunch is meatloaf, but I don't see the meatloaf. Did someone change the menu?" Before anyone else could speak of it, Tucker acknowledged who did.

"Yeah." He stuck his thumb to Sam. "She did." It was true, but what happened next scared them.

The Lunch Lady switched from a gentle soul to a rage-filled being without a filter on violence, with blazing hair and burning red of eyes. "YOU CHANGED THE MENU?!" The quartet gasped as they stepped back from the being as it ranted. "THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR FIFTY YEARS!" She shouted this as green flames surrounded her and even above her head before Danny took action.

"Get behind me!" The trio did so as Danny was the barrier before Sam remarked with a complete sense of 'I don't believe this'.

"Wow. I feel safe." That didn't last as Danny shouted.

"I'm going ghost!" Danny changed before all of them as black hair turned to white, blue eyes turned to neon green, and NASA shirt and blue jeans changed to a black and white jumpsuit as the rings that appeared around his waist and traveling both directions before he took off to confront the Lunch Lady, but his confidence could use some work. "I command you to...go away!" The Lunch Lady was not so scared off as piles of plates were lifted up with ghostly aura and 'throwing' them at the group, Danny was lucky as he turned intangible, but he swiftly came to the aid of his friends as both Sam and Tucker grinned to his save, Cedric was more like 'Okay, that is a thing'. He quickly put them down on the counter before commenting with the plates he caught in his mouth now in hand. "Well, if this superhero thing doesn't work out, I can have an exciting career as a busboy." He paused and turned as the stoves started up and frowned as the Lunch Lady continued to lecture.

"I control lunch! Lunch is sacred! Lunch has rules!" Just as swiftly, She was back to her calm state before offering a slice of cake. "Anybody want cake?" Sam and Tucker nodded their heads in shock as the Lunch Lady rejected the suggestion. "Too bad! Children who change _my_ menu do not get dessert!" She phases through the ceiling, leaving the stoves to attack the four of them, Cedric rolling out of the way a bit faster than Tucker and Sam who just jumped away while Danny dodged with his powers before the trio were targeted for a charge when Danny saved them with his intangible and Cedric followed through as he lunged back, slamming into Danny and pulling the four through into the hall, the wall cracking to the stove attack before Danny exclaimed as they returned to visible form.

"Hey! It worked!" He cheered while looking at his hands before Sam commented with an upset or irritated tone.

"This is the thanks I get for thinking like an individual?"

"No." Cedric answered as the hall sounded with a crash and the four got up, just in time for the lockers to attack them as well with school supplies and flying over to the Lunch Lady who was arming up. "It is just the behavior of devoted food critics." The supplies flew behind her. before Tucker smelled the air as various meats flew from behind them.

"Steak...! Rib-eye...! No, porterhouse! Medium-rare!" The meat gathered and collected onto the Lunch Lady until a hulky mass of meat with glowing greens peered out of the monster. "But where did it come from?" He paused before glaring behind him. "Lancer!" His face was covered by some paper as the far distance a voice could be heard yelling 'Paradise Lost'. The Lunch Lady shouted once more in rage.

"Prepare to learn why meat is the most powerful of the five food groups!" Once more the shift as she held up a cookie. "Cookie?" Sam shook her head as Cedric yelped 'How are you even doing that!?', the ghost surprised by the refusal before rage took over again. "Then perish!" A clawed hand descended, just as Danny jumped in to protect Sam.

_"Forget it_! The only thing that has an expiration date here is _you_!" He would have been successful, but he wasn't on the grounds of when he said it, he reverted back to human. "Whoops! I didn't mean to do that." He was snatched and hurled at Tucker, having removed the paper, sending them into a row of lockers and getting covered in papers before the Lunch Lady snatched Sam and headed down the hallway, Cedric giving chase as Tucker shouted.

"Come on! Change back! We gotta go!" A pair of hands refuted as Lancer found them, grabbing them by the collars.

"You _two_ aren't going..." He lifted them up as he finished. "..._anywhere_." Dash came from behind and shouted as well, covered in the topsoil and a smirk.

"Told ya you'd pay, Fenton!" Danny was worried for this was a mess...

* * *

The quiet was unsettling as Lancer filed through his cabinet, pulling out a pair of files with Tucker and Danny seated while Dash just leaned in a smug tone. "Tucker Foley. Chronic tardiness, talking in class, repeated loitering by the girl's locker room." Tucker smiled shyly as Danny was next. "Danny Fenton. Thirty-four dropped beakers in the last month, banned for life from handling all fragile school property, but no severe mischief before today." Somehow, that was 'suppose' to be helpful. "So, gentlemen, tell me..." Lancer slammed the files on the table and yelled with anger. "WHY DID THE TWO OF YOU CONSPIRE TO DESTROY THE SCHOOL'S CAFETERIA?!" Danny defended himself in vain.

"Dash started it! He threw-"

"Four touchdown passes in the last game is thereby exempt from scorn. You two, however, are not." Danny groaned as he couldn't even get Lancer to at least listen to him. "I'll map out your punishment when I return." He headed over and gave an order. "Mr. Baxter, watch the door." Lancer left with Dash smirking and closing it shut, leaving Danny and Tucker alone in the room as Tucker started again.

"We gotta find Sam. For some reason, I feel like _I_ got her kidnapped." Danny raised a brow as he pointed out.

"Maybe because you told the ghost she changed the menu? How about that?" Tucker would have countered before he smelled the air and had a heading for them.

"That steak is still in the building. Two hundred yards, tops." Danny looked to the monitors and found where to go, several of the cameras showing a couple of boxes, but more importantly, the trail left behind of their contents.

"Check it out." He pointed out with Tucker looking as well. "_Meat_ trail." Not the most original thing, but still it worked as Danny turned ghost once more and turned in intangible with Tucker's surprise, moments before Lancer returned and yelled of HOW two boys escaped when the door wasn't opened again.

They arrived to the storage room and Tucker gasped in glee. "Sweet mother of mutton!" He hugged the boxes of meat with Danny in disbelief. "I'd dreamed of it, but...I never thought I'd live to see it!"

"How is it that _I_ have the ghost powers and _you're_ the weird kid?" Both paused as cackling was heard, heading to a corner of boxes to find the Lunch Lady who was floating in front of a meat-trapped Sam as she spoke, the boys unsure where Cedric went.

"My dear child...meat is good for kids! It helps them grow and makes them smile! Why won't you eat it?" Sam retorted back in her usual way as she turned away from the offered chicken leg.

"We don't need meat. That's _fact_! And get Cedric down from there!" Danny and Tucker finally spotted Cedric... hanging by his feet from the ceiling from a congealed mass of meat as Lunch Lady howled in rage.

_"SILENCE_!" She pointed at Sam and continued to lecture. "You need discipline, manners, respect! You know where that comes from? _MEAT_!" The winds stopped as she tried again and remarked. "Chicken? Or fish? And your friend will be fine, he is rather polite to be putting up with my moods." Danny and Tucker raised a brow as Cedric was silent before they realized that he was barely sleeping as the pair slipped on back and Danny made the plan.

"I'll take care of the ghost. You just find a way to get Sam out of that pile of meat!" Tucker had his answer in a fork and knife, held in glee.

"Waaaay ahead of you." Danny charged, Lunch Lady slow to the attack as she was sent flying into a wall and Danny standing before her glaring gaze as the impact stirred Cedric from his nap while Sam looked to Tucker just sawing at the meat with enthusiasm, not taking it apart by hand. "I'll have you free in no time, Sam!"

"You've _gotta_ be kidding me." Sam frowned as Danny took on the Lunch Lady, starting with a kick which was grabbed and he dangled in surprise as she lectured him.

"Don't you see? This is why you need meat! You're skin and..." She tossed Danny through the air. "...bones!" Danny righted himself after going through a wall and falling to the ground while making it halfway, glancing up to incoming shish-kebabs and splitting his body in two to keep from getting impaled. He smiled to the use of his powers, but grimaced as meat started to gather again to the Lunch Lady's roar. It freed Sam, but it also allowed the Lunch Lady to blast Danny with a meaty punch, Cedric somehow still stuck as Danny was held captive to Tucker's yell of aid.

"Help's on the way, buddy!" That was in vain as Danny was hurled away, phasing through a wall and the monster loomed over both Sam and Tucker, now scared as Tucker asked. "Run?" Sam replied.

"Run." Both yelled as they booked for the door, yelping as a wall of meat blocked the door, Danny recovering to phase through halfway and catch up with the pair of friends as more meat fists were made and the Lunch Lady made to smash them before Danny saved them, passing through the wall and surprising the Lunch Lady as the meat slammed into the wall before the trio continued on outside and Sam questioned.

"Gee, Danny. Fighting meat monsters, flying through walls...You must be exhausted."

"What? Of course not!" Danny defended before he started to trail off. "What would... give you... that... idea?" They fell to the ground as he passed out, reverting back to human form and the pair of friends looking at each other.

Back in the room, the Lunch Lady seemed to rage with remorse. "Oh dear, I sure hope those dearies are well, they do not look quite healthy to be running such a dangerous time."

"Hey..." Cedric groggily spoke as he glanced down. "Can you please get me down, please, the blood is rushing again." The Lunch Lady nodded as she caused the meat to fall and she caught Cedric and spoke.

"Oh dear, you are too thin as well, what do you do for this slim form?"

"I work on machines and devices and trying to be a more-understanding scientist of ghosts." He cracked his eye to her and asked. "Can I get a burger with only lettuce, a side of fries, and a pint of grape juice, please?"

"Of course, deary..." With that, Cedric was treated rather well as he recovered and studied the Lunch Lady for both details and history...

* * *

The door of Fenton Works opened to Jazz calling out. "Mom? Dad?" Confused, she stepped in and the door slammed closed as a pair of smoke bombs rolled in front of her and went off to Jack's voice.

"Now, Maddie! Hit her! I'm moving in!" Jazz shrieked to the attack. "Get my back!" The smoke cleared out to Jazz, unhappy with crossed arms, Maddie and Jack gripping her legs while the X-Tractor had taken Jazz's hair. Both parents released her legs as Jazz stomped off and spoke.

"This is _all_ going in the memoir." Both got up from the ground as the door opened to Sam and Tucker hoisting Danny in as Tucker spoke.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton! What a school day! Poor Danny nodded off. We figured we'd just carry him all the way home and tuck him into bed..." He spoke while they headed upstairs without a single word. "...without any parental interaction whatsoever."

"Don't get up! We know where to go. Bye!" Sam replied as Jack hummed in ponder before Maddie spoke.

"Jack, Danny is not a ghost."

"You're right." Jack glanced over to Jazz trying to get her hair out of the X-Tractor as Jack continued. "_Jazz_ is." Still, there was something off, Jack didn't say it often, but his gut told him that Danny was 'not' dozing off on purpose, more like something else was going on. Up in Danny's room, he stirred before he sprung up with a yelp and questioned with panic.

"Ah! Aah! Wha? What's going on?" Both of his friends looked down on him as he didn't see where Cedric was.

"You passed out. We took you home. You've been asleep for _four_ days!" Danny sprung again as he yelped.

_"Four days_?!" Tucker chuckled as he corrected to Sam's increasing ire.

"Nah. It's only been a couple hours." Danny settled back down, just in time for Sam to lash out at Tucker, hands on hips to mean business.

"Knock it off, Tucker. This is the second time today your carelessness almost got him killed." Tucker countered.

_"Me_? _I_ almost got him killed?" Tucker snapped back, neither hearing Danny's 'Where's Cedric'. "The only reason this happened is because _you_ had to be unique. _You_ had to take the meat away!" Sam turned with crossed arms as Tucker stormed off with a declaration. "And I'm going to get it back!"

"You want to change that menu back?" She yelled in anger, confirming the war to come. "YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME TO DO IT!" Both left the room behind with a angry slam of the door as Danny breathed in relief, hoping that they would do anything too extreme.

"Oh well. I'm sure everything will be back to normal by tomorrow." Danny dozed off and slept for the next day.

* * *

What Danny was expecting was relief the next day, but that was in vain as he commented in grief, of WHAT the two friends had done. "...Or not. Maybe it'll be worse." On one side was a convention of meat; meat foods, clothes, gigs, and themed items as there was even a stage set up for dancing girls in hot dog costumes before Tucker arrived with microphone in hand and yelled.

_"_What do we want?"

"MEAT!"

"When do we want it?"

"NOW!" On the other side of the school was the vegan equal of the meaty mess; hippies, laid-back people, and even goths somehow as Sam protested with several others from on top of a school bus.

"VEGGIES NOW! VEGGIES FOREVER! VEGGIES NOW! VEGGIES FOREVER!" Danny was in disbelief at what he was seeing as Cedric somehow joined him and spoke, a bag of cereal in hand as he commented.

"Not the first time this has happened, but it certainly a first being hosted and backed by teenagers."

"I don't believe this..." Tucker and Sam detached to glare at the other, mere feet from Danny. "You guys put together two protests in one night?"

"Meat-eaters, Danny. Always ready to fight. And our high-protein diets give us the energy we need to do it quickly."

"Ultra recyclo-vegetarians are always ready to protest. And because we don't have to waste time cooking our food, we can move even faster."

"Don't you guys think this is a little extreme?" They were headstrong, but at least Cedric was like 'a little' with his fingers before the pair tried to turn the both of them to their side while still glaring at each other.

"No choice, buddy. You're either with me!"

"Or you're against him!" Both leaned toward Danny and yelled as he ducked a bit while Cedric was undaunted.

"So whose side are you on?" At that moment, a harsh wind blew in and the sky turned gray before cackling filled the air and Danny's sense kicked in, meaning one thing. The crowds were confused before a truck of meat erupted of its contents to form a colossal monster of meat as it bellowed.

"It's lunchtime!" The quiet was shattered as protesters fled for their lives while Tucker screamed out.

"Meat! Why have you betrayed me?!" Danny took control as he shouted.

"Guys, time to makeup. Now!" They did so as cover and Danny changed into Phantom once more before heading to battle the creature of meat. Meanwhile, somehow undaunted by the raging monster of meat or the protests, Jazz was speaking to a goth that was not that chatty about it.

"Spike, you have to open up to your parents! Be true to yourself _and_ them." That was asking a lot from a blacked-out teen with a mohawk and was covered in both tattoos and piercings. "Tell them how you feel! I mean, it's not like they're gonna attack you or anything." That didn't go over as well for her as she was caught in a green net and reeled over to a set of bushes while the teen had watched it happen before Jack could be seen standing behind the bushes as he commented.

"I've got her!" Maddie popped out as well as Jack continued. "And the Fenton Grappler is working like a charm!"

"I don't understand. If Jazz is a ghost, why isn't she phased through the net?" Jack WAS going to say that, due to the content of the net, no ghost could phase through the netting and it would, in essence, de-power any ghost long enough for further action before Jazz broke the question with a shout.

"Because I am _not_ a GHOST!" She yelled after standing up and throwing the net off before she lectured her folks. "You've ambushed me, suffocated me with smoke, and worse, I was pulled away from Spike before he had his breakthrough! What do you have to say for yourselves?" Jack had something as he lashed out the Thermos and shouted.

"Eat hot Fenton Thermos, ghost gal!" The thermos simply sparked and nothing else as Jazz looked at it and glared at her folks as Jack checked over the Thermos and shook as he huffed. "Hmm. Darn thing _still_ doesn't work!" Back with Danny, he was alarmed with the size of the monster, but stood or hovered his ground as he dodged from a thrown fist and slipped past a backhand attempt. He also took the opportunity to knock the beast down with a hard kick from a failed uppercut on him as Sam and Tucker smiled to his progress.

"He really _is_ getting better." Danny smiled to the comment before turning back to the ghost, unprepared this time as she punched him away, Sam grimacing as she pleaded.

"I sure hope he can take a punch!"

"I'm sure he can." Cedric commented as Danny flew high, but they could tell that he was coming right on back, though with a wet head as Jack took a look at the Thermos and how it had failed him after a look at a angry Jazz and unsure Maddie before he spoke his intention to both Maddie and Jazz, unaware of Danny coming back down in a soaring punch.

"I, Jack Fenton, from this day forth, do hereby turn my back on ghosts." Danny slammed hard into the monster, blasting meat everywhere and releasing orange smoke in the distance of the trio of unaware Fentons as Danny clamored up from the crater created as the Lunch Lady inquired from behind him, back in her usual form.

"Oh, dear! What a mess! Are you okay?" Danny paused before he gave his answer with a rub of the left arm.

"Yeah. I think so." She gave a small smile before reverting to angry Lunch Lady.

"TOUGH! BECAUSE YOU BEING OKAY IS _NOT_ PART OF MY BALANCED DIET OF DOOM!" Meat surged from the crater to form five small forms of the monster from five meat piles. Danny took flight with the mini monsters behind him before used a flying kick to knock them down, but not for long as they just reformed and he commented.

"Wasn't expecting that." He also went back to being human as he continued. "Or that." The monsters take the chance in snatching him and lifting him up into the air, two releasing for him to dangle in the air as he yelled, the unaware Fentons still not knowing what was happening as Jack dismissed the Thermos.

"...And this Thermos can't trap ghosts because ghosts don't exist." He tossed it, rather well, into Danny's face as he caught it and exclaimed.

"The Fenton Thermos! But how am I going to get it to work?" The three still holding him released and he yelled before trying to focus his powers to come back. "Change back! CHANGE BACK!" The ring appeared once more and he turned back to ghost, surprising the meat monsters before they gave chase, Danny falling through the ground as he thanked them, surprising the Fentons altogether. "Thanks for the thermos!"

Jack was surprised before he cheered. "HA! Ghost kid! I was right!" He started to dance and sing to it. "You were wrong! Ghosts exist!" He then laughed to the small victory. "I never doubted for a second!" Jazz was NOT pleased to say the least as Jack continued to laugh before the meat monsters, having lost their form and control from the Lunch Lady, fell on the trio. Danny phased back through in front of Lunch Lady, the slight taste of dirt in his mouth, as she howled to the new object in hand.

"NO! Soup's not on today's menu!"

"I'm changing the menu, _permanently_!" He then whispered to the Thermos for support. "Please work." He pulled off the top and prayed that it would do what it was meant to do. "I hope I'm right!" Danny's aura glowed before infusing itself with the Thermos, reverting him back, but activating the Thermos, blasting out a net beam at the Lunch Lady before pulling her in as she cried out.

"NOOOO!" It finished trapping her and Danny capped it as he smiled and headed over to his friends who were trapped under a protest balloon, Cedric taking the Thermos off Danny's hands as he helped Sam out before she asked.

"What happened? Where's the ghost?" Danny smiled to the Thermos as Cedric worked to figure out how it turned on like it did.

"My parents have their moments."

"Ghost directly ahead." Danny turned to find his parents, covered in meat, strolling toward them as Jack held the Fenton Finder before stopping in front of Danny with the voice speaking again. "You would have to be some sort of moron to not notice the ghost directly ahead." Danny smiled weakly to both Maddie and Jack looking at him, the moment of truth at hand before Danny... dismissed it for a secret identity that he would use.

"Oh, sorry, Dad." He gestured behind him as Cedric rolled his eyes playfully. "You just missed him." Jack was on the case.

"We got a runner!" Both charged off as Jazz huffed in upset.

"_Great_." She headed off to the school again. "Back to square one." Tucker and Sam joined Danny as Tucker asked.

"So, you're not gonna tell 'em?" Danny shook his head as he answered, Cedric stashing the Thermos as he spoke.

"Nah. I think I might've finally figured out what these powers are for. They make me-" A hand landed on his shoulder and he grimaced with wide eyes as he looked to find Mr. Lancer and he was ticked, yet strangely not covered in meat.

"In a world of trouble." Where the trio grimaced, Cedric just smiled, what exactly is he smiling about...?

* * *

The team were forced to clean up the mess that was left behind, both side of the protesters had left a number of meat and vegan things laying about and the ghost fight just scattered the whole mess about, Lancer enforced it with a megaphone. "Manson! Pick up that T-bone!"

"With my _hands_?" She answered with disgust as Lancer turned to Tucker.

"Foley! Pick up that Turfwich!" Tucker shuttered as he replied the same way.

"With my _hands_?" He even holds it by the corner as Lancer was pleased, chomping on a turkey leg before walking away. Dash was also there as he just laughed at their misfortune, Danny ready to just phase the meat out of the dumpster that Dash was leaning on before Cedric came over with another deposit and spoke.

"Dash, just walk away, we don't really need your 'humor' here."

"Make me, wimp."

"Alright..." He laid the broom down and, without a blink of the eye, he closed the distance, stunning Dash with a pair of chops to the neck before picking him up and hurling him into the meat dumpster. "It helps to know how to face a ninth-degree master in judo and karate, bear that in mind, Mister Quarterback." He chuckled as Dash stammered before yelping.

"FENTON! A little help?" Danny was pleased as he just remarked.

"Whatever you say, Dash." He looked elsewhere as he felt the green of his ghost side flare up. "Whatever you say." They glowed before dying back to blue and helped Dash out; it was official, Cedric was one guy that he could count on for some backup._.._


	2. S1 - Parental Bonding

Down in the Fenton Works basement, where the Portal loomed, Jack Fenton... was at work fishing into the Portal when Danny arrived and questioned the soda-hat, fishing gear and line going INTO the Ghost Portal. "Hey, Dad. What are you doing?"

"Danny, keep it down. You'll scare away the ghosts." Danny listened as Jack spoke, pointing to the line he was using. "It's the Fenton Ghost Fisher. I'm fishing for ghosts." Danny was not sure that would work as Jack showed off the line with it's teal-blue colors. "Check out this line. Coated with a special high-test ectoplasmal resin that ghosts can't break. Quiet now. Don't wanna spook 'em." He cast the line once more before his stomach had other plans, rumbling to his embarrassment. "Whoa! That soda goes right through you like Sherman through Georgia." He handed the pole to Danny and called out in his escape to use the restroom. "Here! Hang on to this. I'll be right back after I use the Fenton Urinal." He sprinted upstairs as the line tugged and went taut as Danny grimaced.

"Oh no." He held tight to the line when his ghost scene went off, but the line finally breaks and he stumbled backwards to the emerging beast, the other end of the line hanging from what could only be a dragon ghost before it roared aloud and the line smacked Danny in the face as he stammered. "Da-?"

"I want to _go_!" It roared a loud, provoking an action from Danny.

"D-ahhh!" He tried to book it away, but the dragon snatched him as it roared at him again while in its claw.

"I _have_ to go!"

"You'll have to stand in line behind my dad. In the meantime..." Danny turned into Phantom and slipped out of the grip, the dragon attacking with a few misses and green flames before Danny slammed hard with a kick, knocking something off, but he didn't know where it went as the dragon somehow downsized and he gasped that it took the form of a ghostly girl in what could only be a more medieval or Renaissance attire as she bemoaned.

"All I wanted was to go to the Princess Costume Ball. And my horrid mummy won't let me!" She wailed as she was pulled back into the portal before Danny mused.

"If that dragon suit's her idea of a costume, I'm on mummy's side." He changed back, still unaware of the amulet now in his bag. "Phew! Man, that's a relief." Jack took that moment to enter as he spoke.

"I'll tell you what a relief is..." He paused before heading back in shock. "Darn, I almost forgot!" He headed off and the sound of a toilet flushing sounded, Danny face-palming to the lack-of-common logic that filled his father's mind...

* * *

Casper High was planning an upcoming dance for all of the students, a banner written with 'THE BIG DANCE' loomed over the door outside as Tucker tried his best... in vain to get someone to go with him to the dance. "Hey there, I-"

"No!" Tucker frowned as he tried once more on the next girl.

"Hi, would you-"

"Forget it." He nearly got his mouth open a third time as the third girl answered without a question.

"No!" He paused before he shouted after her.

"I didn't ask you yet!" He gave up and headed over to the crowd of friends were waiting on him as he slumped down to Cedric speaking with a canteen lowered.

"Well, that was an effort made and abandoned."

"Strike three, Tuck?" Danny questioned as Tucker huffed.

"Try strike three thousand." Sam rolled her eyes as she spoke up.

"I don't know what the big deal is about going to some stupid dance. I don't need to be asked to some dance to know I'm special. I-" Her words stopped as the pair gazed off into the distance, Cedric munching on his roast beef sandwich as Sam asked with annoyance._ "_What?" Cedric pointed and Sam followed the finger as both Danny and Tucker dreamily spoke.

"Paulina..." Paulina, the bane of all as she was the popular girl, the most beautiful girl, a Latina with ego larger than her own mind as her simple walk entranced the boys, one hitting a tree while on a bike, two fell into the fountain and sat back up to stare as the boys spoke again. "Paulina..." Sam countered.

"Oh, please! Paulina? Girls like her are a dime a dozen!" It was a figure of speech, but Danny and Tucker took it up as they pulled changes from their pockets to Danny inquiring.

"How much change you got?"

"Ha ha! Very funny. Just remember: you can't judge a book by its cover." Tucker floored it as he spoke up to Paulina under a tree and with a lunchbox.

"Well, there's only one way to find out. Go on, Danny. Go to that library and check out that book!" Danny stammered as Cedric hummed to the show going on.

"I can't! I get weak-kneed when I try to talk to cute girls."

"Oh, and you have absolutely no problems talking to me." Sam slightly hissed before Cedric cut in.

"Childhood friend, brain does not register friend as love interest, Manson, it hasn't clicked for him like that." He poked his skull to Danny's paused moment before Sam rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"Skip it." She did give a nod to Cedric who returned it before she lifted the poor boy up and answered on the side of asking her. "Go give your weak knees some exercise." Danny stumbled before he spoke in greeting with a deep breath, leaning against the tree as the lead up.

"Hi! I..." His arm reacted to his nervous gesture and phased through the tree, causing him to lose his balance and fall as Paulina remarked.

"Please! Don't say you've suddenly fallen for me. That line is _so _last semester." Danny quickly stood up and tried again.

"Yeah! I-I mean, no! T-that's not it. I'm... I'm Danny." His powers struck again as his pants glowed green before dropping. The other students just laughed at the embarrassing moment as Paulina just rolled her eyes with her laugh.

"A gentleman usually tips his hat, but I'll give you points for originality." Danny gave up as Sam came over and spoke up.

"Kudos, Danny. You just set an all-time speed record for drowning in the shallow end of the gene pool." Paulina thought through the words before she screeched.

"Oh, no! You did _not_ just call me shallow, did you?!"

"If you mean do I think I can stand in a puddle full of you and not get my feet wet, then yeah." Sam countered as Paulina yelled to the goth dragging Danny away.

"Shallow?! I am not shallow!" She paused before a planning smile crossed her face. "On the other hand, I'm not so deep that I couldn't lure a boy away from a goth geek. And I will." The day progressed as normal, but the next day was the kick for all of them...

* * *

The next day, Danny was in a gloom mood as Tucker checked out the passing girls before he remarked. "Thanks to you, I now know the quickest way to a woman's heart: clean boxers." Cedric rolled his eyes as he leaned against the other side of Danny as he glumly spoke with a sigh.

"Man, I blew it yesterday. Paulina probably won't even look at me now." That was proven wrong as a voice called out.

"Yoo-hoo, Danny!" The trio looked down to Paulina waving from down the hall, the other guys looking love-struck before Danny spoke.

"...Or not! Hey, Tuck and Cedric?"

"I get it. I'm out." Tucker answered as he paused once moment to give his acknowledge, Cedric just going to the other side for a close eye. "Good luck." He ran off as Paulina spoke to Danny.

"Hi, you." She laughed and drew him in as she started. "I just wanted to..." But, like all good things, it came to an end as Dash arrived, tossing Danny into his locker and trapping him with his back against the closed locker as he started.

"Meet me? Who doesn't?" Cedric near-growled, but calmed himself as Danny was more confrontational as he leaned out of his locker with intangibility as Dash went off in bragging. "Dash Baxter." Danny followed through to hurl Dash elsewhere to get himself out of the situation, but grimaced when his hands suddenly slipping into Dash's shoulders. "All-star quarterback and school hero." He yelped as the sentence trailed off, surprising Cedric as the blue eyes suddenly turned neon green._ "_I'm also-" The foot ball and Cedric's mouth twitched in surprise as Danny's voice came out of Dash.

_"_-in Dash's body?" Paulina was confused as she spoke.

"Excuse me?" Danny sprung back into it as he spoke.

"Right! Of course!" Paulina stared suspiciously as Danny went off, Dash's voice somehow being blocked, even his conscience. "I'm also president of the Casper High geek club, and I have every toenail I've ever clipped. Want to see 'em?"

"No."

"Oh, then you should get to know Danny Fenton. He doesn't scrub his mom's feet every night like I do." Cedric raise his brows in disbelief as Danny even controlled Dash's body to get down on his knees and pick up Paulina's foot before she pulled away and screeched.

"Eew! Get lost, loser!" Danny left Dash't body and reentered the locker as Dash got up while being slightly disoriented, rubbing his head in confusion.

"Why do I suddenly feel like scrubbing my mom's feet?" He walked away while holding his head in confusion before Paulina opened Danny's locker, he dropping to the ground, but the more important feature was what fell out of his pack as Paulina commented.

"We have to stop meeting like this." She said while getting on his level before spotting the amulet that was in Danny's bag and gasping. "Oh my gosh!" She pointed at it as she was taken in by its features. "What's that?" Danny stammered as she picked it up, amazed with it.

"That? Oh! Uh, it's a... uh..." He paused and asked with a hopeful smile. "You like it?" Paulina answered as Cedric was COMPLETELY confused where Danny even got his hands on such finery.

"It's beautiful!"

"Hey, that's great!" She got up as Danny continued to make an excuse for the 'apparent' amulet. "Because I, uh, got it for you."

"Really?!"

"Yeah." Cedric hung his head in complete shock at HOW easily Danny was just wringing his way into the thick of it with no way out of it. "I-I-in case I got the nerve to ask you to the dance and you said yes, I thought I'd want to give you something and that's what it would have been. It's for you." He quickly grabbed his pants when they tried to slip off again. "Whether you go with me or not."

"Well, you are kind of cute, and you have great taste in underwear." she hummed before she made his choice with a firm goal. "I'd love to go with you." She put the amulet on and headed off, the power infused flexing out in green eyes as she headed off before Danny mused with Cedric near ready to boop the fool for giving something he clearly didn't know about.

He was smiling to the acceptation, but frowned as she mused. "What am I doing? That thing doesn't belong to me. It could be my mom's, or my sister's." Cedric raised a brow before Paulina drew Danny's attention again with a wave of her hand.

"Bye, Danny. See you!" Danny's doubts slipped away just as quickly as he cheered.

"Or I could worry about that later. Because she said yes! Woohoo!" He raised his fists in victory, but he forgot that his pants were loose from going intangible and dropped, just as Mr. Lancer approached him, all the while Cedric just face-palmed on how bad this had become somehow.

"Pantless again, Mr. Fenton? Third time this week I've caught you- how do you kids say it?" He pulled out a book titled '_How To Sound Hip For the Unhip.' _from behind him before versing a line. "Dropping trou. I think it's time I saw your father for a parent-teacher conference." He gave Danny the notice slip as he grimaced to it before speaking again.

"Oh, man. My dad?"

"Until then, here." Where Lancer pulled out a belt for Danny to use, was out of the question as he continued to lecture... and relate. "It'll help you keep your pants up and... out of trouble with the man." Danny took the belt and wondered how to break it to his father._.._

* * *

Back in the Fenton Works, Danny headed down to his father slumping forward, face on his hand as Danny spoke up. "Catch anything, Dad?"

"Son, I couldn't catch a cold. I've been sitting here all day without a single bite." Danny paused before Jack ranted, Danny fearful with the slip in hand. "I'm so frustrated, I want to take out my rage on the first person who gives me bad news." He cast the line into the Portal before asking._ "_Anyway, you wanted to tell me something?"

"Well, sort of. Mr. Lancer-"

"Mr. Lancer _what_?" Jack growled as he continued. "Is this bad news?" His eyes narrowed to hear the next part as Danny stammered.

"Mr. Lancer..." He paused and smiled as he instead, while Jack wasn't looking at him and at the portal, quickly did the same thing he did to Dash and possessed Jack, the green eyes the feature that separated Danny from Jack's body, the smiling coming back on Jack's face as Danny continued._ "..._wants to have a word with us!" Danny paused, however, when a voice came ringing through his head.

_'Sufferin' Spooks; Darn you, ghosts!'_

'Wait, Dad!' Danny quickly replied back to calm down the incoming rant in Jack's voice, somehow tapping into the same mental or mind link that Jack's voice bellowed from. 'Iamnotaghost,Ithink,wethinkIamhalforsomething!?'

_'...Uh...?'_ Jack replied back in confusion. _'You are going to need to run that by me again, slower this time, okay?'_ Danny nodded in Jack's body as he prepped himself or Jack for the conference.

'I'm not really a ghost, we think that I am about half, the Ghost Portal... you put the ON button inside the Portal.' This was a way to reveal himself, just possess his dad and convince him through the possession. 'I'm sorry, but Mr. Lancer wants to have a conference and I just didn't want to get in trouble, my powers were going off and my pants slipped off.'

_'Ah, that was the 'bad news' you had? I can't help much, but I can help you out some.'_ Danny raised a brow as he looked in the mirror and tamed the hair some. _'I had a feeling, but I wasn't sure, who else knows, Dann-o?'_

'Sam, Tucker, and Cedric, my friends have been very supportive, though Cedric is up to something, he pricked me and I think he was working on something to help or to join me in fighting ghosts, I'm not sure.'

_'There's the ol' Fenton charm, now let's talk to Mr. Lancer, we'll get it sorted out and then some.'_ Danny nodded as he headed out with Jack leaving a lingering word. _'Also, these powers are yours, but use them with responsibility.'_

'I'll try, Dad, thanks, though I am not sure if you will remember all of this.' Both shrugged as they arrived and got into talking with Lancer.

"Thank you for coming to discuss your son's schooling, Mr. Fenton."

"Well, sure!" He gestured himself in understanding. "I'm a parent, and that's...what parents do, ensure their kid's well being. Uh, right?"

"Well, there were a couple of incidents...with his pants."

"Did his pants fall down again? Poor Danny. He studies so hard he forgets to eat." He had been studying, but he was worried that it may very well change somehow. "I know these things because I'm his dad and not him." He just smiled and lean on the desk as Lancer continued.

"Hmm... That would explain things."

Danny whispered to himself about it. "It worked?" Lancer noticed so Danny struck at a weak point in the school, it over-funded the football team too much and the teacher were left with a minor amount of salary. "I-I-I mean, of course you understand. No wonder you're Danny's favorite teacher."

"I am?" Lancer asked with a question with Jack as well as Danny just continued.

"We Fentons consider teachers to be underpaid and under-appreciated." Danny felt the pause before Jack actually agreed, remarking about several teachers that were amazing, but so under-appreciated, Lancer looked to be a decent fellow, just a strict one as Danny smiled.

"I like your style, Mr. Fenton." He pulled out a flyer for the upcoming dance, both grimaced as one didn't want his father to go and the other was concerned if he would be forgetting about that. "In fact, I'd like you to chaperone the upcoming school dance."

"Chaperone?" Danny paused, nearly giving both of them relief as he continued. "Well, I'm not sure..."

Lancer, on the other hand, did the opposite than accept the meek reply. "I am. See you Friday." Reading his '_How To Sound Hip_' book again, Lancer sent them off. "Or, as the kids say, catch you later, G!" He gestured a finger-gun and Danny grimaced as the pair had one final chat heading home.

_'We may be in trouble.'_

'This is going to be embarrassing...'

* * *

Danny headed off to explain the situation to Tucker, Sam, and Cedric, though Cedric filled the two in on Dash's 'impromptu' scolding. Tucker was just trying to pick up girls as he tried with a full mouth before getting the same response. "No." He dropped as Sam asked Danny.

"So, your dad is going to chaperone the dance?"

"Yes, but he doesn't know he's going to chaperone because he doesn't remember that _I_ made him say yes!" Danny rested his head before adding a bit more. "Or maybe he does, I could hear his voice when Dash's was just blocked out somehow, he knows I'm... something, but it have just been when I was in his body and controlling it." Tucker swallowed as he asked.

"Let me get this straight. You can just walk into people and take over their bodies from the inside?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Tucker glanced to a girl reading a book on the other table and asked._ "_Hey, Danny. If you could control a girl for just about two minutes..." Danny looked the same way and commented back to Tucker.

"Forget it. You can get your own date for the dance like I did."

"Does he have to take off his pants _and _act like a dweeb? Or will either one do?" Danny didn't grace that with an answer as Sam was sounding... bitter, was she expecting someone to take her to the dance with her sour mood?

In a nearby Abyss store in the mall, however, Paulina was in search of some new clothing before she cheered to the 'Fleecy Tees Sale' inside and swiftly approached the table. "I've just got to have one of these!" She tore through them for what she wanted. "They're so unique!" She peered about for anyone that could help her, despite the number of people wearing fleecy tees themselves before she found a sales girl and waved for aid. "Miss?" The girl came over as Paulina inquired with tees in hand. "Do you have this in a size small?"

"Ooh, sorry. We just sold our last small of this corduroy button-down fleecy tee to someone else."

"Will you be getting any more soon?"

"The Abyss corduroy button-down fleecy tee has been discontinued. If you haven't already got one, you are doomed to languish as a toxic social outcast for a period of no less than five and no more than sixteen weeks." The girl giggled, heedless of the rising temper. "Sorry."

"SIXTEEN WEEKS?!" Paulina actually roared as the amulet came alive with its glow, her skin turning blue and her reds before she erupted into the dragon that Danny faced yesterday and roared. "Want fleecy tee!" Green flames erupted from her mouth and caught several tees on fire before panic set in and the table came flying out as the four were still in conversation.

"Honestly, guys, I'm glad I'm not going to the stupid dance. Saves me the embarrassment of wearing the lame dress my parents bought me." She, however, laughed nervously as Tucker pointed it out.

"So no one's asked you, huh?" Sam rolled her eyes as she answered.

"Maybe if I was as pretty as Paulina." Danny was confused as he asked.

"Why are you so down on her? So she's pretty. It's not a crime."

"Looks are deceiving, Danny." It was that moment when people ran away and Danny's sense kicked in and Tucker spoke.

"Ghost time." He pluck the container of fries before asking. "Can I finish your fries?" He didn't refute as he ran for a opened spot before coming back as Phantom to confront the dragon now rampaging, Cedric jumping to follow as his wrist, adorned with bracers, fortified his hands and chest in metal and steel as Danny started the banter.

"Say, haven't we met somewhere?" The dragon just roared before blasting green fire, Cedric dodging with Danny as Danny tried again. "Let's try this again. Hi, I'm Danny Phantom and my... friend is Cedric Trace." Two-finger wave as Danny turned back to the dragon. "And you are?" Another roar before hitting Danny, crashing him into a Weenie On-a-Skewer, the tail lashing back to Cedric snatching the limb with great challenge in holding it in place as Danny spoke again, hand to his head. "Testy, got it." Despite the struggling hold, the dragon blasted fire at Danny as he flew out of the way and ranted. "Sorry, dude! I think you got the wrong weenie!" He slammed the dragon away, Cedric releasing just in time, but not fast enough to stop Danny from getting snatched by the dragon and slamming him into the ground as it roared.

"Must have tee!"

"Tea? Ooh, good idea. Coffee could make you a mite jittery. Better yet..." He slipped into the ground, confusing the dragon who lost its prey from the claws before returning with fist in hand. "Have some punch!" The punch was powerful indeed as the dragon went flying, neither sure where as the amulet flew off and into a discarded bag and the dragon downsized into Paulina as she groaned.

"Ooh, whoa. What hit me?" She notices the bag and fishes out the amulet. "Hey! My amulet!" She put it back on and gasped as she also pulled a fleecy tee out. "Hey! My fleecy tee! They must have had it in my size!" Folding it up and beamed in pride. "I guess good things happen when you maintain a positive attitude." She headed off as Tucker and Sam joined the pair, Danny flying back down as Cedric rubbed his chest as the armor slipped back into the bracers.

"Danny!" Sam inquired as Danny shifted back and rested a hand on Cedric's shoulder who just hummed before nodding. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, Cedric too." He paused as he pointed something out. "But that's the second time I've fought that dragon. We need to investigate. How are you guys?"

"Great...if you don't count me still being dateless for the dance." Tucker answered as he flipped through his PDA. "Sasha, no. Denise, no. I've hit every girl in school except..." The last girl on the list approached him with hope returning to his eyes. "Valerie." Part of the A-Lists, the African-American girl was the daughter of a security officer for Axion Labs and it paid well and that gave her room to be either wise or cruel with her own behavior.

"Yeah, hi. Sucker, is it?"

"Tucker." Tucker went off as the trio face-palmed to his failure to be 'normal' "Or Tuck. Or Tuckerino."

"Which ends with 'no.' Which, by the way, is my answer, unless something happens in the next five minutes that makes me dateless." Sadly, that is what would happen when another member of the A-List, Kwan, came over in joy.

"You'll never guess what happened! Donna said she'd go to the dance with me, so you're dateless!" He headed off as Valerie was left stunned before she glanced to Tucker.

"You're on."

"I'll take it!" She leaves and Tucker cheered. "Some may call it the rebound, but I call it a yes! I got a date! Whoo! And the pants are still on!" The notion that he needed to point them out was not needed as the four of them had a game plan.

* * *

Jack worked to tie his tie, but he hated to do it, the jumpsuit was so much easier to work with, thought he did diverse with other clothes. Maddie finally helping as Jack mused. "I don't understand why I have to wear this stupid thing."

"Because it's Danny's first dance, Jack. If we're gonna chaperone this thing, we have to make sure we don't embarrass him." While Jack and Maddie were standing to tidy up for their task of chaperones, Jazz was leaning on the table as Jack mused on HOW they would be embarrassing, should that be something that parents do at times?

"How would we embarrass him?"

"I think it's great when you guys do anything that doesn't have something to do with your sick obsession with ghosts." Jack hummed as he thought about it, Danny was there, but wasn't. He remembered the words, but couldn't really tell what happened.

"Funny. I don't even remember volunteering to chaperone the dance. It's all a vague blur." But he did remember something, Danny said something and Cedric had shown an interest in the science of ghosts as said boy arrived with a glass of water, drinking before Jazz spotted and spoke.

"By the way, Danny, just so you know, I'm on to your little secret." Danny sprayed water as he stammered.

"What?! Wh-what secret?"

"The clumsiness, the nervousness. I can't believe I didn't figure it out before. You have a girlfriend."

"It's a lie, I'm not a ghost!" Danny answered in a panic before he versed his words again, having really heard what Jazz said. "I-I mean...she's not my girlfriend. She's just going to the dance with me." Jack lost track of the notion as he cheered to Danny's 'girlfriend'.

"That's great! I can meet her and talk to her about ghosts!" Jazz leaned over and whispered.

"You better let her know your family's insane now, Danny. If you marry her and she finds out later, that's entrapment." Danny sighed as he spoke to himself.

"I better go get ready." He headed down the steps to get something first before he headed to his room for the dress up. "Okay, so I'm gonna have to dance with Paulina _and_ keep my dad from embarrassing me. I can handle that." Later on, Sam got a webcam connection going on as Danny cataloged his list, in a suit and Tucker in a suit as well, but Cedric was not for some reason as Danny spoke, adjusting the tie for a final touch. "Tie straight. Shirt tucked in." He then lifted the Fenton Fisher up and retracted it down to fit in. "Unbreakable ghost fishing line tucked neatly away just in case." He directed his attention to Sam as he asked. "What's taking so long with that dragon research, Sam?"

"Alright! Jeez!" Sam hissed back as she finished up her own prep work. "Here. I'm sending you the link." The computer got a web page featuring the same dragon that had attacked Danny twice and he even exclaimed to it.

"That's it!" He moved the mouse to the 'More Info' link and read out what it had on his foe or rather something more pressing. "Medieval ghostly legend held that the cursed Amulet of Aragon-" The picture featured a human girl that looked like the ghost that screeched back into the Zone and a familiar amulet._ "_-could transform any wearer into dragon form-" It also had an image of the dragon's neck that ferried the amulet as well, Cedric raising his brow as Danny finished reading. "-under states of extreme emotional duress or anger."

He finally clocked in as he spoke. "That's the amulet I gave to Paulina. It must have accidentally fallen into my backpack." He paused before he realized what it meant. "Wait. You mean...I'm going on a date with a dragon?!"

"Like I said, looks are deceiving. I'm sure you boys will have a wonderful evening." The call ended before Danny spoke again.

"She really wants to go to the dance."

"But she says she didn't want to!" Tucker protested to it.

"We're her best friends. We should have known."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now, right?" Tucker pointed out as Danny thought about it for a moment before he smiled and Tucker grimaced to the sudden flash of green eyes. "No way. Forget it. Absolutely _not_. No!" A cleared throat drew their attention as Cedric just waved.

"You are forgetting me, and I am not hurt, you guys get your dates and meet at the dance, we are there to both keep Mr. Fenton in check and get a ghost relic off Paulina before someone loses it and becomes the dragon again." After a pause, both boys nodded and headed in their separate directions and, before long, Sam's door was knocked on and she opened it to a surprising face.

"Cedric? What are you doing here? I thought you had a date to the dance?" Cedric stood before Sam in a tan suit jacket, suspenders with pants, dress shoes, but he had not given up his bracers as he spoke.

"You didn't ask and no one would have asked someone from the party of four." Cedric answered. "But that is beside the point, I can't really trust Danny to multitask this dance, so we are going to need our 'ever lovable' goth on our side, so do you think we can handle this dance as friends?" Sam smiled before she frowned and spoke.

"Uh, I don't know. This is so last minute. And I do have plans, and-"

"Well, I understand if you don't want to go." Cedric smirked and Sam huffed as she agreed.

"Okay, but only because you... chose to invite me like this. I'll go change into that dumb dress I wasn't gonna wear." She closed the door and Cedric checked his wrist on time.

"Hopefully, Danny can get this done with the three of us there, if not... well, there is some problems to that." The door opened and Cedric smirked to the fancily dressed Sam with matching purse to the black-and-purple dress.

"Come on, we're gonna be late!" Cedric nodded as Sam dragged himself along for the ride while Danny headed over to Paulina's house and shifted back to his human form before versing his idea of getting the amulet.

"Paulina, about the amulet. It's an ancient family heirloom and I need to get it back." He smiled before he face-palmed as he just answered his own foolishness. "No, that stinks." The door opened and Danny was kind of afraid to the muscled, tough-guy man before him as he spoke, though it was terrifying to the flexing hands into fists and glaring eyes. "Uh, hi! Uh, you must be Paulina's dad."

"If you upset her, we're going to have a violent talk." Danny frowned to that, overprotective father much?

"Papa?" Paulina walked out, in a pink dress, to join the pair as she remarked. "You're scaring him. Come on, Danny." He noticed the amulet was around her neck, so that made things tougher. "We're going to be late."

"Have a wonderful evening, baby." Then the gaze flew back to Danny. "I know where you live."

"And I'm glad we had a chance to chat." Danny replied as he escorted Paulina to the dance. It was not a far walk to Casper as all entered the gym with the banner reading '_SCHOOL DANCE 2 NITE_', music pounding and dancing was underway as Lancer... still tried to be 'hip'.

"Let's get down with our bad selves." He was all over the place with trying the 'hip' life. "Yo. Shake that thing. Hey, G, you're my dog." Danny took the time to grab some punch and offer a one to Paulina before kicking it off.

"Paulina, I was thinking... That amulet-"

"Isn't it fabulous? I haven't taken it off since you gave it to me."

"Yeah, well, about that. See, I shouldn't have given it to you in the first place because..." His eyes searched, landing on Tucker first, but he would own a amulet like that, Valerie, in a radiant orange dress and actually able to come instead of being left out with Tucker taking Sam, could have had a 'non-cursed' amulet for a better look, Cedric was not that interested in relics without a clear label, and Sam... "It belongs to Sam!" Danny blurted and Paulina didn't react too fondly as a forked tongue dove into the punch and drained it, before her grip shattered the glass piece before before Danny quickly gave his glass. "Uh... But I want to make it up to you. I'll get you something else. Something...more special." A voice caught Danny's attention just then.

"Mr. Fenton! About our conversation the other day concerning Danny." Jack's confusion was apparent as Danny spotted Lancer conversing with his parents and quickly took that chance.

"Like punch! I'm gonna get you some special punch." He headed off and, hiding in the giant's shadow, quickly takes control again as his voice came through. "Yes! Danny, what a fine boy he is! Ha! Yes, as his father, I get that all the time."

_'Dann-o, I was not imagining it, you DID possess me!'_

'Dad, I don't have time for this right now, Paulina, the girl I brought for a date, is wearing a amulet that if she gets angry, she WILL turn into a dragon, it's a ghost artifact!' That throw Jack off as Danny focused on the conversation before him, Maddie inquiring.

"Jack, you sound kind of strange."

"Oh, must be something I ate." A loud 'NO' before a quiet 'yes' followed before Danny spotted the punch table and took the course. "Hey! How 'bout I get us some punch?" He headed through to find his friends, Jack finally getting his words back.

_'I don't believe it, an ACTUAL ghost artifact!?'_

'Yeah; we, as in Sam, Tucker, me, and Cedric, are trying to get our hands on it, get it out of here and do it all before someone gets angry and rips loose... you missed the dragon ghost when you went to the restroom.' Jack nodded as Danny found his friends and whispered, Valerie elsewhere thankfully. "Tucker, Sam, Cedric, we've got trouble."

"We had nothing to do with it, Mr. Fenton. It was all Danny's idea." Cedric paused before he spoke up in the hushed tone.

"Tucker, he IS Danny, the eyes are green!" Cedric quickly turned as he asked. "What's the problem?" Danny answered the question.

"We need to keep my dad out of trouble as he doesn't know what is going on and also get Paulina to take off the amulet." He pulled out four walkie-talkies and headed them with missions in mind. "Sam, you try to help me find Paulina. Tucker, keep an eye on my dad. If he starts talking to anyone, page me, got it? And Cedric..." Danny paused before he spoke. "Just... don't try anything dangerous right now." He headed off as Sam just smiled.

"This dance gets better and better with every passing minute." Sam headed off as Tucker did the same, Cedric just sighing as he just clipped the walkie-talkie on and mused on how he could improve their comms when he got the chance. Soon, Sam had Paulina in sight and called it in. "Danny! I've got her."

"Stay on her. I'm on my way. And Sam, don't make her angry." Danny replied as he unpossessed Jack and took the talkie, Jack looking confused before he spoke.

"Danny sure has a way to get things done, I guess he is going to have some real trouble soon, if they can't stop an angry... dragon thing." He shrugged before weaving through the crowd while Sam confronted Paulina.

"Hey, Paulina. Nice dress."

"Yes, and it goes so nicely with _your_ amulet, don't you think?"

"_My_ amulet? That's not my-" She stopped as Danny must have remarked that it was her amulet, probably better than saying that it was someone else's as she played along. "Right! Listen...my grandma gave me that amulet, and-"

"Forget it, sweetie. I'm not giving up this trinket _or_ your little boyfriend Danny."

"My boyfriend?" Sam chuckled, was that this was about, man she was pretty dumb to be thinking that. "And they say pretty girls can't be funny. Danny is _not_ my boyfriend."

"He's not?"

"He's my _best_ friend. Maybe that's why I was so hard on you. I didn't mean to call you shallow."

"What a bummer! I only agreed to go out with him because I thought I was stealing him from you." That was a catch in the plan as Paulina 'willingly' surrendered the Amulet to Sam as she was still the shallow person suspected and walking away. "Here, take your crummy amulet. I'm going back inside to dump your dorky friend." Sam was told NOT to make Paulina angry, but that was one plot hole, Danny said and meant NOTHING otherwise.

Meaning, Sam was going to roast the very thing trying to escape, scaly blue skin and blazing red eyes in tow. "Shallow little witch!" She transformed and when Paulina turned to come face-to-face with a blue dragon, no one could blame her for fainting as Danny spoke up from outside the restroom.

"Paulina? Sam?" He headed in only to find the dragon, heedless that it was now Sam, soar into the sky from a destroyed roof. He goes ghost and gives chase before knocking her down with a kick, landing as he spoke up, both on the football field. "Take it easy, Paulina. You don't want to hurt Sam." He stopped before seeing who was in the grip. "Paulina?" If she was there than who...!? His eyes glanced to the dragon as he exclaimed. "Sam?!" Sam towered above on the hind legs before roaring.

"Shallow girl!"

"Yep, that's Sam." He quickly dodged as Sam blasted fire at him and he bantered. "Whoa! Sam! Two words: breath mints." If she could have heard him, then she would be all the more angry, but he made up for time as he took to the air and snatched Paulina out of the dragon's claw, only to have both go flying toward the bleachers with a powerful tail smack. Danny turned them intangible to Dash trying to flirt with a girl in surprise as Danny spoke.

"Uh, sorry." The moment didn't last as Sam lifted a portion of the bleachers, emitting a loud roar that scare the girl and Dash away as Danny spoke up to the dragon hurling the bleachers. "Now, Sam, be reasonable." His walkie-Talkie went off and he answered it to Tucker's voice.

"Danny, Lancer's getting close to your dad." Danny groaned as he spoke.

"I hate to do this, Sam." He quickly flew over and grabbed the tail, straining to even lift the whole mass before managing it, spinning her around before throwing to get some distance between her and the school before he exclaimed after a series of emotions. "Oh, man. Dad!" Jack walked through, doing his best before he stopped and got angry, who was this... he had a feeling who it was, but he still was a bit ticked as he stomped over.

"Hey!" Maddie and Lancer looked at him as he walked over and displayed a small smile before frowning again at Lancer. "Who the heck are you? And why are you talking to my wife?"

"Jack, this is Mr. Lancer-" She whispered in a hushed tone. "From the parent-teacher conference." Jack nodded as Danny phased through and possessed Jack as he spoke.

"Right, right. I'm sorry, it's just in this light I thought you were George Clooney. doesn't he look sharp, Mom? I mean, Maddie."

"Well..." Lancer chuckled as he accepted it. "Thank you."

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to dance with my wife. That's what we adults do, dance with our wives." He pulled Maddie along and started to 'tear up' the dance floor as Maddie mused with a sigh.

"Doesn't this bring back memories?"

_'Totally, college was a crazy time, I remember when I tried to do three dance moves at a time, but it just ripped my pants, that was a embarrassing moment.'_

"It sure does, but I never should have tried those three dance moves at the same time, that was a crazy time. I'll totally agree to remembering." The song ended and Danny quickly left Jack's body to the student's cheering, Jack pausing before he replied in amaze, it was a good time.

"Wow, what a time. I mean, uh, thank you! Thank you all on behalf of me, Jack Fenton." Danny charged off to face Dragon Sam as three fire blasts came for him and he dodged before calling out.

"I hate to say this, but you throw fire like a girl!" That riled her as he pulled out the Fenton Fisher and readied it, using it to contain the dragon. "The Fenton Fisher. It can capture ghosts _and_ dragon ghosts. Way to go, Dad!" Sam tried to roast him ,but he was faster in binding the arms and wings, causing the transformed being to drop before he swooped down and snatched the amulet, Sam reverting back as Danny asked, turning back to human as well. "Sam?" He knelt down to pick her up. "Are you alright?"

"Wow." She held her head before asking. "Did I have fun at the dance?"

"Well, uh..." He chuckled for a better terming of the word. "Let's just say you had a roaring time." Soon, the dance was coming to an end as students started to file out, Tucker's date ended as well when Valerie got a call from home and she grudgingly accepted to just go home, the four friends left on the floor as Tucker sighed to Danny.

"Dude, sorry your date didn't pan out. Where is Paulina anyway?" On the far wall was Paulina, being hit on by Dash.

"So, do _you_ like quarterbacks?" Sam nearly spoke up, but just let it go as she commented.

"Ah, who cares? Look!" The DJ was playing still as she used that to take a small chance. "The DJ's still playing. And I think there's time for one last dance?" Danny smiled as he accepted.

"Sure, I'd love to." Cedric was handed the Amulet as Danny remarked._ "_Keep an eye on this, will ya?" He nodded as Danny and Sam took to slow dancing as she remarked.

"Promise me you'll keep your pants up."

"I'll do my best." Tucker watched as Cedric stashed the amulet in a safe box he had brought in before his reality crashed down on him.

"Wait a second. I'm dateless _now_?! What does a guy have to do to get hooked up around here?" The ghost that Danny encountered spoke up as she made her appearance with the pair.

"I want to go to the ball!"

"On second thought, I don't need a date that badly." Dora came closer as Cedric just shrugged and took the ghost's hand, leading her into a slow dance himself as Tucker shouted for some time. "Hey guys, wait up! Can I cut in?" Sadly, there was just too little time for Tucker to jump in, at least he got to take Valerie, who KNOWS what would have happened if he stood her up like Danny accidentally planned...


	3. S1 - One Of A Kind

Down by the docks, all was rather quiet before it was not as a spectral figure crashed into a pile of boxes with Danny Phantom following in with a determined look before both turned visible and the other ghost spoke in a dramatic tone as he gestured to the boxes. "Beware! I am the Box Ghost! I have power over all containers cardboard and square."

"Okay, can we get this over with? I've got a test to study for."

"Study? There will be no time to study-" Conjuring the boxes to him, the Box Ghost continued to rant. "-when you find yourself crushed beneath the forgotten possessions of..." He pauses to read the label on one of the boxes. "Elliot Kravitz of Arlington Heights, Illinois!" Turning back, the Box Ghost launched the boxes at Danny, the contents also flying at him, but he just turned intangible and let the things hit the wall before he shouted after a sigh.

"I don't have time for this! Hey Tucker, let's go!" The warehouse door was busted down as Sam and Tucker charged in, Cedric just strolling behind them as Tucker was armed with the Thermos while Sam was carrying... a biology textbook, Cedric looking just the same as Tucker shouted with opening the Thermos.

"Good night everybody!" He blasted the thermos beam and Danny, in a dash, snatched the Box Ghost by the overalls before hurling him into the beam, he screaming into the capturing object before Tucker capped it and spoke. "Perimeter secure."

Sam raised a brow as she asked. "Perimeter secure? What are you, a Navy Seal?" Danny landed beside Tucker as he questioned.

"Seals: aquatic mammals that bark. They're canines, right?" Sam rolled her eyes before she cracked the book open and answered.

"Wrong." Sam closed the book from the pinnipeds page and replied. "That's zero for twenty-one."

Tucker spun the Thermos as Cedric crossed his arms on how poorly Danny managed between fighting ghosts and studying for a biology test. "I'm no teacher, but I'm guessing that's an 'F.'"

Danny groaned as he spoke up. "Come on, you guys." He flies in-between the pair as Cedric just looked over everything and back to Danny. "If you're gonna be superhero sidekicks, you're gonna have to be a little more focused." The third friend rolled his eyes as Danny selected Sam first. "You're supposed to be helping me study for the test tomorrow." Then turned to Tucker for his aid. "And you're supposed to be helping me catch these ghosts so I have time to study!"

Tucker was still spinning the thermos as he commented. "What? They're all right here." The Thermos slipped and dropped to the ground, the word 'RELEASE' flashing on the screen before the cap burst open, releasing a number of ghosts in suits out that took flight away and the Box Ghost as he ranted again and gestured the shape of the thermos in hand.

"Ha ha! I am the Box Ghost! You cannot hold me within the confines of a cylindrical container." He phased through the wall as Tucker paused, heedless of what he had just done on accident.

"That's weird." He checked his PDA with a screen that read 'FINISH CATCHING GHOSTS 9:00 PM' as Cedric massaged his temples with a hand. "According to my schedule, we should be done catching ghosts by now." Danny glared at Tucker for his mishap as, unaware of them, someone was observing them from a distance.

"Half human, half ghost." The darkness and shadows hid the figure, but none could really hid the ghastly glow that the figure possessed, skin like metal and hair blazing of robin-blue flames. "One of a kind. He'll make a fine addition to my collection." The Box Ghost arrived to take a cubic prison of ghosts behind, but the figure replied without even a turn. "Touch the box and your pelt will adorn my fireplace." The ghost paused before he yelled.

"Beware!" And he flew off, the figure looking back to the target in his sights.

* * *

Day come again as the Fenton family enjoyed a breakfast in the kitchen, or they were when Jazz came in and exclaimed, magazine in hand. "Oh my gosh, they said yes!" Danny looked up from his cereal with Jack with Maddie taking her eyes of the invention she was working on to look at Jazz as Danny spoke.

"Who said yes? The person you asked if you were a conceited snob?" He asked with a slight mocking tone.

"No, _Genius Magazine_ said yes! They got my letter and want to put mom on the cover!" She screamed in joy and hugged the magazine as Maddie asked.

"_Genius Magazine_?" Jack snatched the magazine and looked at it before he too asked.

"_Genius Magazine_?! Is it the swimsuit issue?"

"Uh, Dad, _Genius Magazine_ is _for_ women geniuses, _by_ women geniuses, and about _women_ geniuses."

"So it _is _the swimsuit issue." Danny countered before he frowned and shook with a slight disturb. "Oh, gross! Mom's gonna be in the swimsuit issue?!"

Jazz took the magazine and spoke again. "It's _not_ the swimsuit issue! But it is the perfect magazine to show that I have normal parents instead of a couple of ghost-hunting freaks."

"They're not ghost-hunting freaks." Danny replied, there was no way that they could be, their devices just have not been used the right way, but with ghosts coming, those tools could be used for the right situation. Jack jumped in as he made to display the latest they have made.

"Hey, Danny, speaking of ghost hunting," The device that Maddie was working on was grabbed and Jack showed it. "Check out the latest in ghost-hunting technology: the Ghost Gabber. _Genius Magazine_ has to be interested in this." He leaned over to Danny and continued. "It takes the mysterious sounds a ghost makes and translates them into words you and I use every day. Here, try it." That was a bit stupid, but Danny hasn't met too many ghosts that could speak in a different language before and he was not sure if it did, but the look in his dad's eye told him to at least try. He paused before he had a good one and spoke, drawing out the last word.

"Uh, uh...booooo...?" A woman's voice replied back.

"I am only half-ghost. Fear me." Danny raised his brow before he spoke.

"'Fear me'? An actual translation?" Jack shrugged before Danny spoke again while Jazz and Maddie were confused. "I'd better get to school."

"I'd better get to school. Fear me." Danny smiled meekly and leaves to get his stuff together as Jack looked at the Gabber, could it have been translating what Danny was actually thinking into the words, but the 'fear me' didn't really match as Maddie spoke up, looking through the magazine.

"That's great about the magazine, sweetie, but your father and I are a team. I think that beside every genius woman, there's a genius man." Jack weighed that before he dismissed the Gabber for now and proudly stood by Maddie.

"Who should be standing beside her on the cover of _Genius Magazine_!" He then made a small speech and felt like a American flag should be flying behind him with a finishing move of pulling Maddie close. "The world needs to know that the Fentons are a family of geniuses." Sadly, that was not fully to be as Danny exclaimed at school.

"I got a 'D?!' In the school library, Danny and Tucker were looking at the graded test of Danny's while Sam was on the computer, Cedric reading through a number of books on machines, devices, and methods of assembly, but groaned to the lack of good techniques for his bracers. "All this ghost hunting is taking away from my study time."

"So much for the Fentons being a family of geniuses." Danny groaned again as he replied.

"I can't get a 'D' in biology. My parents will kill me."

"Not if you pull your grade up by doing an extra credit biology assignment..." The trio looked to the goth girl as she pulled up a web-page for a 'Extremely Rare: Sampson' gorilla. "On this magnificent creature." Danny headed over before inquiring.

"A purple-back gorilla?"

"Yep. Extremely rare. Only two left, both male. After this, they're gone forever." Cedric raised a brow as he joined the looking before Sam continued his 'liberation' speech on Danny. "Which is why you are going to prove he deserves to be set free."

"I don't have time for extra credit... or your agendas." Cedric hummed as, sure it was part of Sam's 'freedom for all things living' spiel, doing a project on some endangered could actually help Danny a great deal.

Tucker supported this as he was holding his PDA. "Actually, you do. You just have to learn how to manage it better. I decided to become your time manager. It's the least I can do after Sam made me let all those ghosts out." Sam glared before Cedric added to it.

"Tucker, was it not YOU spinning the Thermos on your finger, and not Sam's fault that you didn't have a solid hold on it?" That shut him up as Danny sighed.

"I don't know."

"It'll be my job to keep track of your schedule so you can do your schoolwork and catch all those ghosts that Sam... that I let loose." Tucker corrected as Danny pressed the matter.

"Remember what happened when I let you manage the thermos?" Tucker tapped across the PDA before he replied again.

"And I've already scheduled 'Remember: not to let Tucker handle the thermos.' He showed it as a blinking reminder, Danny giving a pause to his words before he agreed to the plan.

"I suppose we could have a trial period."

"See? I've also scheduled some zoo time so we can check out that gorilla. Let's go." The four headed off and the figure appeared in before looking at the article and musing.

"Hmm, so this is your prey, eh, Ghost Boy?"

"Uh, excuse me, sir?" The figure paused to a small nerd kid by the name of Mikey behind him, rewarding the surprise appearance with a scowl. "Are you finished with the computer?" He didn't go far before he was blasted into the wall and trapped by a ghostly net, blinded too with ectoplasm as as well as he wailed, the figure ranting.

"You thought you could sneak up on me, Skulker?" A wail came back. "Ghost world's greatest predator?" Another wail before Skulker spoke again. "Quiet, you're in a library." Ectoplasm covered Mikey's mouth who wailed in muffled volumes before Skulker took off and left Mikey to be found by Dash and an fellow footballer named Dale, the energy soon disappearing with Skulker's presence leaving the area in pursuit...

* * *

Night fell over the Amity Park Zoo where Sampson, the purple-back gorilla, was located as the four observed, or three as Danny and Tucker groggily helped Sam some as Sam commented, still fully awake, Cedric had gone for two hours still trying to improve his equipment, but it was in vain, so he gave up and yielded to a nice slumber through the watch in an observation tower. "There he is: Sampson. So gifted, so...majestic." Sampson scratched as both Danny and Tucker lean on the desk they were sitting at and as bored and tired as they come.

"Sam, we've been watching the gorilla scratch his butt for, um, how long?" Tucker yawned before replying.

"Six hours." Danny shared the yawn before he continued.

"Time flies when you're majestically scratching your butt."

Sam returned volley as she still looked through the binoculars she had in hand. "It's only a matter of time before you find out something about Sampson nobody's ever learned!" She turned around to continued to lecture Danny. "You should go and try to communicate with him." She frowned to the slumbering Danny on the floor, how he slipped off the desk and onto the floor without a sound was a mystery as she groaned. "Ugh, great. Tucker, you're his manager, can you-" She stopped as Tucker was also asleep and she turned to Cedric who was also asleep, but he had been for a while as she watched Tucker turn off and curl up to Danny in sleep as she sighed. "I'll do it. But first..." Pulling out a camera, she took a picture of Danny and Tucker with a laugh. "Boys hugging makes every yearbook funny." However, in the habitats, Skulker had phased into the tiger's and had his binoculars scoping on Danny before the tiger stirred and growled at Skulker who disregarded the threat as minor.

"Oh, please." Sampson was not heedless as the sounds of growling and fighting caught its attention and it started to pace before noticing Sam and making distressed noises to alert her to the threat.

"What is it, you wondrous being?" Sampson pointed to the tiger habitat with continued grunts to her confusion. "Is something wrong?" The gorilla headed to the door and hung to it as it still grunted in distress. "You want out?" Sam did so as she opened the habitat, Sampson rushing out. Skulker finished with dealing with the tiger, hanging it in a net before focusing back to Danny, after phasing out of the habitat, before a display popped up to Skulker's confusion.

"What? Gorilla attacking?" It was at that moment that Sampson attacked, knocking him out of the air and attacking before Skulker caught one of the punches and kicked Sampson off. The gorilla was not deterred as it attacked once more, spinning Skulker in the air before launching him and biting into the wrist, it mechanical rather than ghostly flesh. The 'top predator' blinded the attacking force with ectoplasm before firing a net to subdue the creature, but the net was snatched from midair and he was spun around before being flung into the tower with a snap of the net, the ghost sense activating, but the pair still slept as Sam arrived and shouted to wake them up.

"Oh my gosh! Ahhh-" But Skulker stopped the attempt with ectoplasm to the mouth before he mused.

"Now for the ghost child." Skulker was met with a fist as Cedric had woken up to Skulker crashing.

_"_Who the heck...!?" Cedric dodged as more ectoplasm was fired when the gorilla charged in and tackled Skulker to the table, the ghost launching Sampson off before phasing through the wall, the gorilla slamming into it before pounding on the wall. "Sam, we are going to talk after this!" Sam nodded as the racket woke up Danny and Tucker who screamed three times, one for waking up to a start, the second to holding each other, and the third to the rampaging gorilla in the tower.

"Gorilla! Loose!"

"I got him! I'm going ghost!" Phantom took flight and grabbed Sampson before phasing through to the habitat. "Alright, I don't know how you got out, but you're going back." Phasing the gorilla in, he flew outside and closed the door through the control panel as Sam and Tucker rushed over, Cedric always in the back as Sam started, the ectoplasm gag gone.

"Danny, I meant to tell you, there was a gho-"

"I wonder who let the gorilla go... _Sam_?" Tucker agreed with Danny's belief.

"Yeah. Wait 'til we tell everybody at school you let out a four-hundred-pound gorilla." Sam was unimpressed as she revealed the photo that she took and the pair backed out.

"Or we just keep it our little secret."

"Yeah, we really have no proof she did it, you know."

"No." Sam smirked before they headed out, Sam lingering in the back to Cedric's questions.

"That ghost..."

"I know, but I didn't know what was going on, one moment I was going to check on Sampson a bit closer and the next, he was going crazy about something in the tiger habitat, that ghost phased out and was looking at the tower."

"I wonder..." Cedric mused with a rub of the jaw. "A poly-mesh composite armor, it felt like iron to the punch, and looking at the tower..." Cedric hummed as he continued. "We could be in trouble..."

* * *

Back at Fenton Works, Maddie, Jack, and Jazz sat on the couch with Connie, a journalist for Genius Magazine, who had a tape recorder in hand as she asked.

"A few more questions, Maddie. Can you tell our readers what you're working on now?" Jack cut Maddie off as he held out the Ghost Gabber.

"Well, it's called the Ghost Gabber, and-"

"Dad, put that thing away!" Jazz shouted as she directed the conversation ELSEWHERE. "She's actually working on a new form of self-generating energy. She's an amazing, intelligent woman who's about to change the world."

"Connie, my primary focus these days is ghost hunting."

Connie frowned to Maddie's words as she asked. "Um, forgive me. Did you say ghost hunting?" Jazz sighed as the four entered the house, with Danny looking rather exhausted from his short sleep. Maddie speaking up to his state.

"Danny, look at you! I'm not sure I like this overnight zoo research."

"Mom, come on. We're just a bunch of kids. In the zoo. At night. Alone." To the number of stares, Danny just sighed and continued. "We'll be in my room." The four headed upstairs as the Gabber spoke.

"We'll be in my room. Fear me."

"Give me that!" Jazz howled as she snatched the Gabber and stuffed it under a pillow before directing her attention back to the interview. "Now where were we?" With the four, they soon arrived to Danny's room as Tucker spoke.

"Here we go, Danny. Home in time for some well-deserved rest." The PDA beeps and he checks it before continuing. "But keep it quick, because you've got thirteen minutes."

"That there is murder, Tucker." Cedric pointed out as Danny's ghost sense kicked in, the four turning to the door as he opened it and turning visible was the strange ghost that was at the zoo.

"Hello, Ghost Child." Anymore was lost as the figure fired a net and Danny was pulled in sharply, the door slamming shut as the trio shouted.

"Danny!" Danny was confronted by the imposing figure as he spoke, his friends trying to open the way.

"The human ghost child in its natural habitat."

"Who are you?" Danny demanded to the ghost's reply.

"I am Skulker." He held up a cage of trapped ghosts as he continued his speech. "A collector of things rare and unique. And you, Ghost Child, are that and more." Laughing, Skulker stomped on a model rocket, provoking a reaction.

"Hey, my rocket! I built that!"

"Pity, though. I'd hoped you would put up more of a fight."

"Oh, don't worry." Danny transformed and phased through the net as he shouted. "I will!" He punched Skulker to the ghost growling while the trio tried to open the door in vain.

"That's the ghost from the zoo!" Sam shouted to Tucker's confusion and Cedric pulling in vain, somehow the door was bound.

"Danny?" Sam and Cedric spoke at the same time.

"No, the other guy." A loud crash sounded from the room before a voice drifted up from downstairs.

"Hello? What's going on up there?" The trio grimaced before, giving up on the door, headed down to prevent anyone from coming up as the voice's owner, Jazz turned her attention to the interview. "You know, ghost hunting isn't the only thing my parents do, Connie. It's really a side interest. What they're really into is-" A loud crash came and Jack went off like an alert or alarm.

"Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!" Sam and Tucker quickly came down, Cedric glancing both ways before heading down to the lab.

Maddie spoke up as well as she went on the protective side. "Kids, get down! There's a ghost in the house."

"Actually there's two-" Tucker started, but an elbow form Sam made him rethink that as he started again. "-much homework to be done for there to be a ghost here." He headed for the kitchen with a plausible excuse. "I'll get some snacks."

"Yeah, Danny's upstairs." Another crash came and Sam scrambled for an excuse. "Uh, lifting weights?"

"He doesn't have exercise equipment up there." Danny entered the conversation as he yelled from above, another crash following.

"My computer! Oh, that's Jazz's."

"That's why he's using his computer." Sam's excuse was still weak, but it was nothing for Tucker as he made it to the kitchen, only to have Danny crash thorugh and destroy the table as Skulker landed in front of him.

"Come, Ghost Boy. Time to see your new home." Snatching Danny, Skulker phased the both of them through the floor and to the lab, Danny yelling along the way as everyone reached the kitchen to see Tucker and the destroyed table, so he did the only thing that WOULD have made sense...

...He struck a karate pose beside it. "Uh...hi-ya!"

"What's going on?" But Connie's answer was not to come as another crash was heard and Tucker followed with the excuse.

"Sounds like rats in the lab."

"Ghost rats. I knew it." Jack answered with furrowed brow before Sam and Tucker bolted past.

"Don't worry, we'll get rid of them." The four of the members moved elsewhere than following the pair of friends.

"I'd like to learn a little more about this Danny." She headed for the stairs as Jazz called out.

"Uh, that's probably not such a great idea!"

"I'd like to see what he's doing up there, anyway." Maddie added as she followed suit with Jazz calling out.

"Wait!" Down in the lab, Skulker had dealt with Cedric rather swiftly, the young teen hitting a table as Danny demanded to the slightly-dented robot, Cedric had gotten some VERY good shots in.

"What are you doing?"

"Bringing you back to my world, where I can put you on display." Danny exclaimed to the cage of ghosts Skulker had in hand.

"What?!" The cage disappeared and Skulker pressed a button on his wrist that somehow activated the Portal, Cedric shook his head as he tried to get up.

"Ha! At last." Skulker exclaimed as he moved toward the portal. "Time to put you in your cage."

Danny let out an answer to that decision. "Noooo!" Somehow, Sam managed to slide right in front of the portal and lectured Skulker, arms out to block the way.

"No is right, Danny. Cages are wrong. How do you think Sampson feels being in a cage?"

"But-"

"He's a beautiful animal and deserves to roam free!"

"I..."

"Should be ashamed." How the heck had Sam managed to surprise Skulker in such a way, no one will ever understand as Danny took the moment of surprise to slam Skulker across the room with a kick, Tucker yelled as he escaped out of the flying ghost's way, dropping his PDA which Skulker took notice of when he sat up and picking it up.

"That technology: so sleek, so...advanced." Glancing at the control panel on the wrist and back to the handheld device. "Mmm, I wonder..." Gripping the panel, he ripped it off and dropped it, replacing its spot with the PDA, the device sparking and the wires that dangled from the old set up started to wave about.

Tucker yelped to Skulker's action as he stood behind him. "Hey, I got three more payments on that!" That was not the time as the ghost smacked Tucker away and glanced back to his wrist with a single word.

"Marvelous." The wires latched onto the PDA, causing Skulker to glow. Danny tried to combat him, but Skulker fired a new blaster from his wrist, trapping Danny with ectoplasm on his arms and legs as he he hit the wall, Cedric rushing off within the moment to Sam scolding Tucker.

"Way to go, Tucker. You just made the bad guy _more_ bad!"

"How was I supposed to know my PDA was ghost compatible?"

"Uh... no one did..." Cedric pointed out as Skulker pointed the blaster at Danny.

"Say goodbye to this world, child." The PDA, however, beeped and he checked it with a exclaimed 'What?' before reading it. "'Fly to library? Get a book on eating habits of purple-back gorilla?'" Somehow, it affected him as his jet-pack engaged and he exclaimed in surprise as he soar upward. "No, stop. The hunt is not over!" He phased through the house as Jack paused as he questioned to the slight echo.

"What just..." He shrugged before continuing up the stairs as down in the lab, the bindings disappeared to Sam questioned what just occurred.

"What happened?" Sam asked as she helped Danny up with Cedric.

"Who cares? At least I got a minute to relax and figure this out." That notion was dashed as Maddie's voice sounded from above.

"Danny, where are you? Somebody here wants to meet you."

"D'oh! My room!" He quickly phased through to his room and reverted into human form as Maddie opened the door in introduction.

"Danny, this is Connie, from _Genius Magazine_."

"Don't you people ever knock?" Danny answered as he slammed the door closed and grimaced as he leaned against it. "Jazz is going to kill me for that." In the hallway, Jazz angrily stated.

"I'm gonna kill him for that."

"Brooding? Messy? Reclusive?" Connie spoke before coming to the apparent conclusion. "Now those are the signs of a true genius. Oh! If only he were a woman." That was far beside the point, but no one questioned it as that was just the start of Danny's trouble with the hunter ghost known as Skulker...

* * *

The next half-hour, the four friends headed through Casper before coming to a stop as Danny looked around and asked. "Any sign of him?"

"Nope." Tucker answered as he checked his PDA for the time. "He hasn't bothered you for...thirty-eight minutes. Maybe he's hunting somebody else now." Cedric hummed at the thought as Sam raised a brow to the PDA in hand.

"How many of those things do you have?"

"Just two." Tucker turned to Danny as he continued. "Good thing I beamed all your info in here and backed it up. Global thinking, Danny: the sign of a quality time manager." The device beeped with the display of 'GO TO CLASS!' as he pushed Danny along. "Come on, you're late." The trio headed behind Danny as their attacker mused as he appeared from the steps.

"Soon, Ghost Boy. Soon." Following the party of four, they continued on their day, heading from Lancer's class to Danny's locker, but upon opening it, he was suddenly trapped by glowing chains as they flung him as the trio called out in surprise.

"Danny!" Skulker formed from a blue mist that followed in front of Danny as he spoke.

"I have you now, child." He aimed another ecto-blaster at Danny, but the PDA beeped, breaking the moment as the ghost spoke. "What?" He check and read it out. "'Go to the news stand and purchase magazine with article about purple-back gorillas?'" His jet-pack activated and he crashed through the ceiling as the chains disappeared, Cedric deciding to raise two fingers with a raised brow as the chains disappeared and Tucker checked his PDA to see the same thing.

"Hmm, I have the same thing on mine."

"I think we'll blow that one off." Danny answered as they headed outside to get some space and sat down on the bleachers to eat, Danny a little unsettled as Sam spoke up to his unease.

"Danny, eat something."

"I can't eat now. He could be anywhere."

"Hey, this food _was_ scheduled to be eaten." Tucker answered as Sam and Danny looked at him as he grabbed a milk carton and opened it, only to have a blue orb pop out and latch itself onto Danny's head as he yelled as he was restrained. Sam and Tucker yelling as Cedric just ate his lunch with minor regard.

"Danny!" Skulker appeared once more as he stepped on the bleachers and started.

"Now, boy, once more, I, Skulker, shall-" The PDA beeped and he checked. "'Take photos of gorilla?'" His jet-pack activated once more and he blasted off as the restraints disappeared before Cedric spoke, pointing at Sam.

"Your habit is supporting us in some way, Sam." Danny paused in thought as Sam turned back to the disappearing ghost and mused.

"Well, at least he's regular."

"Yeah, almost like a schedule." Danny answered as he turned to Tucker. "What's the next thing you have scheduled for me, Tucker?"

Tucker checked and answered with raised brow. "Gym. Why?" The glint in Danny's eye spoke of mischief as they headed out, Danny smirking as he found Dash... modeling in the mirror of the boy's locker room.

"You are one smooth-lookin' dude." He just flexed as Danny fumbled with the lock of his own locker, suspecting something so he paused and played the weakling, despite the fact that he lifted a four-hundred pound gorilla at the zoo.

"Hey, Dash? I'm too weak and defenseless to open my locker. Can you open it for me?" Cedric just face-palmed as Dash did so with insult and a push on Danny.

"Out of the way, loser." He opened the locker and paid for it with getting slammed into with a blast of goo and trapped in a bubble against the wall and blinded as Skulker landed and inspected before lecturing.

"Hmm, my sensors indicate you're an average human, destined for an average life after high school." Dash screamed in muffled noise as Skulker noticed the trio peeking from around the lockers as he primed a ball of ectoplasm to throw. "I shall-" The PDA beeped an he checked to Cedric raising four fingers to the action. "'The gorilla display at the museum of natural history?'" The jet-pack activated and he blasted through the ceiling again as Tucker asked in confusion, not cluing in.

"Why's he going there?" Cedric explained the reason.

"The moment that Skulker hooked up with your tech in his suit, he became bound to Danny's schedule, he has to go where you wanted Danny to go for Sam's agenda."

"Which means..." Danny spoke as he checked the PDA and it flashed with 'VISIT GORILLA HABITAT'. "It's time for the hunter to become the hunted. Come on, I'm gonna go do something a little ahead of schedule." They headed off to make the plan, Cedric rolling his eyes at Dash who collapsed to the ground in confusion.

"That was some bad cheese in there, why did you even try that?" He shook his head as he chased the pair as Dash pulled himself together, but still clueless...

* * *

Night fell over the zoo as Skulker watched Sampson from the Habitat with his binoculars as he growled. "Where is he? According to this infernal device-" The device in question was playing Pogo for some reason. "-which I _cannot_ reprogram- the ghost boy was supposed to be here an hour ago." He leapt down and scolded the animal. "You were supposed to be the bait, you stupid animal." He wasn't too bright as Sampson turned, only to reveal Sam and Tucker using a fake 'Sampson' suit as Sam scolded back to Skulker's surprise.

"Sampson's _not_ stupid!"

"He's also not here." Tucker followed as he held up his PDA and a stylus with a smile. "Can I take a message?"

"You two! You'll pay for this!" He aimed a number of weapons at them as Sam threw off the suit and Tucker did his tech.

"Oh, I don't think so..." He pressed SEND and Skulker checked his PDA to find a new message.

"'Time for push-ups.' What?!" The weapons were tucked away as Skulker started doing push-ups with a vain attempt of resisting. "Stop! Stop! I can't...stop!" Danny flew in as Phantom as he answered to Skulker's problem.

"I can help with that." He slammed into Skulker and bashed him into the wall of the habitat, riddling him with punches and flinging... metal off the armor before Skulker could counter, dodging and aiming a blaster as Danny before Tucker struck again.

"Ah-ah-ah. 10:11, polish armor." He sent the command and the blaster turned into a buffer before working on his face as he screamed against it as Sam scolded Tucker.

"Stop fooling around, Tucker."

"Power him down already. Now!"

"Relax." Tucker answered as he waved his PDA about. "Everything's totally under-" That was too early as an arrow pierced his PDA and pinned it to the tree as Tucker finished and screeched. "-control? Aw, man, I had _four_ more payments on this one."

Danny only had three words as Skulker put the bow that fired the arrow away. "Tucker, you're fired."

"Very well." Skulker spoke up as he made a change in his plans. "I planned on simply capturing you and letting you live the rest of your life in a cage. But now, I will rest your pelt at the foot of my bed."

"Okay, that's just gross." Sam spoke up as Skulker continued.

"Well, Ghost Boy, any last words?"

"Just this." What Danny did next was confusing as he patted his head, covered his eyes with a flapping motion and pounded his chest before Skulker asked for clarity.

"What are you doing?" Danny gave the answer as he was scratching his butt.

"Calling a friend." Sampson suddenly made his presence known as he crashed into Skulker to Sam's exclaim of disbelief.

"You learned his language?"

"Well, sure. All he does is this." Danny answered as he scratched his butt as Cedric joined them, looking rather more rough than wear as he spoke.

"Stop that, there is completely no more reason for that." Sampson went to town on Skulker as the trio cheered and wince to the damage going down before Skulker was thrown down, an arm missing as Tucker asked as Cedric started collecting the parts of the whole thing, it was not armor, but rather a suit.

"But I still don't understand why a ghost needed a high-tech battle suit." They ducked as more pieces came flying before Danny caught Skulker's head, empty in the eyes, but a pair of small green legs kicking and flinging as a squeaky voice came out for the head.

"Let me go! I am the Skulker! The Skulker! Do you hear me? Fear me!" Danny was not sure how he should feel about, but he still pulled on the legs to reveal the true form of Skulker, a tiny green blob with a face and limbs, at least it explained why the suit was used, he was not that threatening without it. "I am the greatest hunter in all of ghost world. You will all fear me." Danny replied differently.

"Thermos, please." Tucker pulled out the Thermos and activated it as Danny dropped Skulker into its beam as he yelled.

"You haven't seen the last of me! I shall capture you all. You shall all be mine. Mine, do you hear?!" Tucker capped it as Danny landed and breathed as he revert back to human.

"Cool. Let's go home."

"But you didn't get anything you could use for your report." Sam spoke up as she spoke about Danny's failing grade. "You're still gonna get a 'D.'"

"Not so..." Cedric answered as he pulled a twig out of his hair and the trio looked to him and his pack as Sampson came closer. "Danny, could you get Skulker's PDA, it could have some data I can use and turn your head one-eighty?"

"Uh, sure...?" Danny answered as he bent down to pick it up as he spoke. "I don't see why that-" The moment he turned his head, he realized and exclaimed in surprise. "Oh my gosh!"

* * *

The following day, Danny Fenton brought a magazine from Genius Magazine for Lancer as he did raise a brow before picking up and flipping to the page with the corner folded, not sure what to make sense of the cover. "'Brooding genius Daniel Fenton did what no other researcher dared to do. He got close enough to this rare purple-back gorilla to realize Sampson was actually a Delilah.'" He was actually surprised as he looked to Danny. "Nobody at that zoo ever bothered to see if it was a boy or a girl?"

"That's weird, huh? Well, maybe they were respecting her privacy."

"Well, Fenton, I have to admit I'm impressed. Wanted to get your grade up so bad, you risked getting mauled by a gorilla." He placed the report in front of Danny and the letter was apparent as he spoke. _"'_C.'"

"A 'C?!'" Danny exclaimed before calming down. "Well, I almost did get killed by a gho-rilla, so I can accept the 'C.'"

"Life's a big mystery, isn't it, Fenton?" The bell ringed and Lancer headed out as he commented. "Next time you want to get your grade up, try the library." Danny nodded as he looked at the curved letter as Tucker and Sam joined him, Cedric was given 'leave of absence' with full credits to him somehow.

"Well, it's better than a 'D', right?" Danny nodded, but he was still a bit ticked as he growled.

"Oh man, if only I had something I could take this out on!" Suddenly, they heard the Box Ghost yelling as he was directing his view on the cabinet of files.

"I am the Box Ghost! And once I empty you of your useless papers, your marvelous squareness shall be mine!" He laughed on the plan, but Danny grinned as he switched to Phantom.

"Hello, misplaced aggression." Tucker checked his PDA and smiled back.

"You've got five minutes."

"Which is four more than I'll need." Danny bolted for the Box Ghost and flew into a fury as Box Ghost yelped to the beat-down he suffered, even getting off a 'Beware' as the battle continued. Sam and Tucker smiled to each other on how well Danny was handling the matter...

...Little did they notice the mechanized suit of armor that soared through the air somehow past the window and spiral into the air...


	4. S1 - Attack of the Killer Garage Sale

The day started out rather well, but it was not that good as Jazz was 'tutoring' Dash on math methods, but he was more focused ELSE where.

"Okay, in algebraic terms, 'A' squared plus 'B' squared equals 'C' squared, where 'C' is the hypotenuse while 'A' and 'B' are the sides of the triangle." She looked up from the paper as she asked a simple question. "Got it?" But Dash just sighed as Jazz spoke again with a frown. "Dash, you have to focus! I'm doing a thesis on tutoring the un-tutorable, and you're disproving my thesis that nobody's un-tutorable!"

"You know, you're beautiful when you use the word-" He scratched his head in confusion as he tried and failed the word. "-untu-untu-un...uh...whatever that word is." He went back to staring as Danny came up from the lab, drink in hand with eyes closed before he spoke.

"Hey, Jazz." He opened his eyes and frowned to the quarterback at the table as he questioned. "Dash! W-what are you doing here?" His moment of panic surged through his body and he slipped through the table, knocking the homework and a book everywhere, the book landing on Dash's head as he yelled.

"Watch it, Fentonowski!" It was just an insult, but Danny still backed out of it as he spoke.

"Uh, sorry. I was just, uh, passing through." He headed through the basement door and closed it shut as Dash took off the book and reached into his jacket for something.

"Now that that twinkie's out of the way," He pulled out an invite and held it in hand to be sure. "You're coming to my party Saturday, right? It'll be a chance for you to see me in my rightful setting," Dash spoke as he handed the invite to Jazz. "King of Casper High."

"And a great place to work on my thesis on the effects of being mean to my brother and then asking me out." Jazz answered before looking at the invite with a hum before she continued. "I'll go, on one condition." Danny headed down to the lab to find his dad working on a... vacuum? The X-tractor was a vacuum too, so what made this one any more special?

Jack answered as he cut off Danny's walking. "Hey, Danny! Check out my latest innovation in ghost-grabbing technology, the Ghost Weasel! It collects ambient ghost energy and shoots it into the Ghost Zone." How does that even work, does it just... suck the energy out of the air or something?

"Does it work?" Danny wanted to test it himself, but Jack was two steps behind him on that notion.

"Why wouldn't it? Only one way to find out." It functioned just like a vacuum as it sucked up loose papers and the Thermos that got trapped before Jack struggled, the idea of just turning it off or putting it in reverse abandoning his mind. "Darn it! Better get the Fenton Unlodger." He placed the device down and handed the nozzle to Danny as he booked it elsewhere as Danny tried to call out.

"Dad, couldn't you just throw it into..." Before anymore, he flipped the 'REVERSE' button and the Thermos flew, slamming into the 'ON' switch for the Ghost Portal doors as he yelped. "Reverse?!" What came out of the portal was some sort of mad scientist ghost as he cackled aloud.

"Child! You have freed me, Technus, ghost master of science and electrical technology!" Danny mused 'yeah' before his hero complex kicked in.

"Oh no you don't!" He jumped into the air and turned into Phantom as he scolded Technus. "You're not going to use the technology in this lab to take over the world!"

"What?" The ghost took a look around before he declared. "That's a great idea! Have you ever considered tutoring?"

"Great, I just gave the ghost an idea... isn't that a villain thing?" Danny mused before he charged for Technus grimacing as a lightning rod formed in Technus's hand and zapped him with it as he spiraled backward before he continued. "You know what? I've already been dumped on once in my own house." He quickly picked up the nozzle of the Weasel and used it. "And that's enough for one day!" It switched on and sucked up Technus, but that was also the bad news as it started to suck up more papers and even lab equipment before the whole containment chamber exploded, Danny evading it with some intangibility, but the lab was covered in green goo and he held the nozzle head with a look of worry before Jack spoke up from upstairs.

"Danny, I'm coming back, and I can't wait to see the lab looking exactly as I left it." He quickly panicked as he dropped the nozzle and flew through the ceiling as Jack arrived, looking over the place before he spoke... with a smile. "Yep. Perfect." Jack didn't even notice how the lab was covered in green, or how it would lead up to a troubling situation...

* * *

Down at the Nasty Burger, it getting its name from a couple of vandals swapping the initial 'T' for an 'N', but that just gave the place a unique appearance as Sam spoke up. "So, Saturday night plans." On the inside, the four friends sat at one of the booths, Danny however, was staring off to the side as the goth friend continued. "I say we hit the amusement park. I hear the new roller coaster has a free fall that'll take three years off your life expectancy."

"No way. It costs forty bucks just to get in there, not to mention food and stuff." Tucker answered to the 'apparent' thing as Cedric just working on his data and had a 'kelvar' vest on with a glowing patch in the middle as Sam answered Tucker's doubt.

"Hey, if you're tapped out, I could lend you the cash."

"'Lend' means-" Tucker spoke with air quotes as he continued. "-'repay,' and 'repay' is out of my reach. Right, Danny?" The trio stopped, the data saved, as they looked to Danny was was still in drift land. "Danny? Hello?!" They looked to see that Dash was handing out invites to ALL of the kids that were in his group and even gave a wink to Paulina when she accepted hers before Danny groaned.

"Great. It's the hottest party of the whole school year, and Paulina's going, and I'm not, again."

"I don't understand what you see in her." Sam pointed out as Cedric gave an input.

"Sam, he is in 'crush mode', focusing on crush than friend, besides, we are not going to judge him too hard, Dash always throws parties for the high levels of popular interest, he always wants to flaunt his state to EVERYONE." Sam raised a finger in disbelief as Danny answered, heedless of the short verse.

"Are you kidding? She's only, like, perfectly flawless." Sam rolled her eyes as Paulina made her order about a 'Mighty Mini Meat Cheesy Melt' before she commented with sarcastic tone.

"You're right. She's a goddess."

"Oh, where are the flaws in that...?" Cedric pointed out as Tucker huffed about the party.

"Why _don't_ we get invited to the really cool parties? We've got style, charm, good looks. At least I do, anyway." Tucker didn't notice that Cedric held up three fingers and shook his head as Sam stifled a chuckle to the 'apparent' insult at Tucker before she cleared her throat and spoke up.

"Dream on. On the social circuit, we're as invisible as Danny in his ghost mode. Not that it'll matter five years from now, but we have each other, right?" If only Danny could take that to heart as Dash slapped an invite into Danny's face as he angrily commented.

"Here! Your sister made me invite you." When Sam and Tucker tried to appease for any more, but Dash was not so gullible or he just lacked invites, as he pointed at Danny. "_Just_ you! Show up, shut it, go home, and nobody gets hurt." He headed off as Danny smiled and the shift changed for him as a girl walked by with greeting.

"Hey, Danny!" Kwan was next as he cheered.

"What's up, Fenton? Party!" He hooted as he headed off as Paulina walked by and waved.

"See you Saturday, Danny."

"I'm...I'm invited!" Danny stammered before he hugged the invite and cheered. "I've arrived!"

"Swell. Send us a postcard from Popularity-ville." Sam answered as Danny headed off with a cheer.

"I will!" Sam sighed as Danny was out of sight before Cedric spoke up.

"Do you two know the likelihood of him actually 'staying' with the cool kids?" Tucker and Sam looked to Cedric as he sipped his drink and held up his hand again, in the form of an 'O'. "It is too weak and baseless that he doesn't even see it, he will return, he just has to be reminded the harsh world of selfish pricks and wannabe divas..."

* * *

Later on, at Casper, Danny milked it in as the trio followed before Tucker spoke up in disbelief. "Seriously, Danny. Ever since you got that invitation, you're all about the 'In' crowd."

"Come on, Tuck." Danny chuckled as he remarked. "That's ridiculous." He stopped and pumped a fist as he cheered. "Kwan! Looking good!" Kwan reacted to Danny's voice and he pointed at Danny and cheered, Valerie playfully rolling her eyes as she was talking with Kwan and didn't hate Kwan for getting another date.

"Fentonmeister! Woo hoo!" He hooted with raised arms as Sam commented the same disbelief.

"He's right, Danny. It's like-"

"Hey, Fenton!" They turned to Dash, standing with a magazine in hand with another two jocks, one of them Dale as he called out. "Come here!" Danny raced over as Sam finished her sentence.

"-we're not even here." Cedric huffed as he voiced his thoughts.

"One thing is for sure, he has a one-track mind, but I can forgive." Both looked at him as he continued. "He needs to both learn and know the difference between friends made with fame and money and friends who have bonded over the years." They slowly nodded as Danny met Dash and he commented with the magazine.

"If you're coming to my party, you have to look the part." He handed the magazine to Danny that was covered with high-end clothes that would make a definite spark or embarrassment. "This is what we're all wearing Saturday. Very high-end, very hip, very Dash. You do have one, right?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah! Oh, sure. I-I have two. That's how hip and high-end I am." Danny sweat dropped when he noticed that it was for guys, not girls so was it a trap?

"Well, wear _one_." Danny inwardly grimaced to Dash's small threat. "I might have had to invite you, but if you embarrass me, your sister's going to be doing her thesis on your bruises!" The trio of jocks headed off as the trio joined back with Danny as he moaned.

"Oh, man." He looked at the magazine with a sigh as he spoke. "This must cost a fortune! Where am I going to get the money by Saturday?"

"You know, I almost hate to offer-" Sam started, but was interrupted by Paulina as she called out.

"Hey, Danny!" They looked to find her on a blanket outside and with a stereo by her as she called out. "You wanna hear my new CD? It's really crunk!" Danny asked Tucker.

"Is crunk good?"

"It's Paulina." Tucker pointed out as Danny cheered.

"Crunk's good!" He headed over with a shout. "Be right there!" He sat down next to her as Sam huffed.

"Okay, this is getting really annoying."

"Well..." Cedric hummed as he checked the time and spoke. "I'll meet up with you guys later, I got some data crunching to do and some parts to refine." He headed off before Tucker questioned.

"What exactly is he talking about...?"

* * *

In the Fenton Works, Jack and Maddie made something for cooking, but that was trouble in the end as Jazz lowered her book and asked to the growling and other noises from the machines. "Mom, what are you making?"

"Hot dogs!" Jazz sweat dropped as Jack added to it.

"We invented a way to cook them ten times faster than a microwave." The gadget dinged and Maddie opened it to some terrifying, barking and growling hot dog creatures as Maddie quickly closed the lid as Jazz huffed in disbelief, a bit scared on how her parents had brought hot dogs... to life as she commented with some empty humor.

"Great. You've figured out how to put the 'Frank' back in 'Frankenstein.'" Danny walked in, and after a moment to think, he spoke up.

"Hey, Dad, can you spare me some cash? I-I need to buy some clothes for Saturday."

"Danny, Danny, Danny." Jack remarked as he continued. "You know, as inventors, your mother and I have plenty of money."

"But as parents, we understand that _you_ should understand the value of money." She rubbed her fingers together in the universal sign of money. "You want money, you gotta earn it."

"You mean, get a job?" Danny asked.

"That, or sell something." Jack shrugged as he thought of somethings that would work. "Like your old comic books or some other junk you don't need."

"Uh, speaking of which," Maddie spoke up as Danny took in the goo-covered machine parts that were laying in boxes, that must have come from the basement. "that junk from the Ghost Weasel explosion needs to go in the shed, if there's room. That old barn hasn't been cleaned out in years." Jack countered as he hugged one of the boxes.

"This is not junk! Every single item in this box is of vital importance to me." Maddie rolled her eyes as she took a part out and showed it to Jack as she asked.

"Do you even know what this is?" He inspects the part before he answered.

"Not a clue. But I know it's important," He answered as he took the part, stashed it, and handed the boxes to Danny. "...so it's off to the shed." The shed in question was a large housing behind the apartments that the Fentons set up for all their needs as the pair of them hauled the boxes to it and they put them in, well, Danny put his down, Jack just dropped his as he mused on the state of it. "You know, maybe I should get rid of this junk." He then dusted his hands of as he remarked. "Ah well, that's a job for another day." Jack headed off, but Danny lingered before a smile slipped onto his face at the light switch.

"Saturday's another day." He turned off the light and closed the door as the parts glowed in the darkness before the next day...

* * *

The day came around and Danny decided to use the stockpile of parts to his advantage, prompting a 'garage' sale as he modeled one of the parts to his teacher. "It's a perfectly good vacuum motor, Mr. Lancer. Only used once!" Lancer took the part with a raised eye as Danny put down the offer. "Ten bucks."

"Looks to be in fine shape. This should fix my Hair Hornet very nicely." Lancer handed the money to Danny while Tucker was lounging on a lawn chair that they had before Danny questioned, altering the words to be less rude.

"Hair Hornet? The crazy vacuum cleaner-slash-hair clipper..." He mimicking a scissoring motion with his fingers as he asked. "...they sell on TV? Don't you often need hair for that, could it be...?" His eyes widened as Lancer glanced to his head first, but slowly lowered to his back as Lancer stammered.

"W-Well, that is..." Danny zipped his mouth and Lancer continued. "Still, that was quite a kind gesture, I know I'm... bald, but let's leave it on the notion of... some back hair in need of a trim." Danny nodded as Lancer headed off as Sam came over and handled some money to Danny, in support of his garage sale.

"Just sold a toaster. You know, I'm surprised your dad's letting you sell off all his stuff." She held up a remote as she mused. "He's such a pack rat."

"Yeah, well, he's been planning on getting rid of this junk for a long time. He won't even miss it, I hope."

Tucker, on the other hand, just relaxed with a sun reflector open to tan with. "I'm pleased with the turnout today. We're doing a really brisk business."

"Danny's business, not yours, Foley..." Cedric spoke as he managed the accounting, somehow getting Danny's handful and tallying it up with a brisk pace. "Twenty short if you want to be hip, but I think you need to be more knowing of what is going on, Danny." Sam spoke up to sway Danny over, Tucker standing up to join her side.

"You're still welcome to hang with us tonight. Mega-movie marathon at my place."

"Your place?" Danny questioned before he continued. "Wow. You never invited us to your place before."

"That's because we're usually fighting ghosts with you. I figured it's time-" The moment was ruined when Dash's voice called out.

"Hey, Fentina!" Danny headed off as Sam huffed.

"-for you to totally ignore me for about the billionth time this week." Cedric sighed as well as he rested a hand on her shoulder.

"We have to wait, I don't even think he noticed how Dash is STILL insulting him." Sam paused before nodding with Tucker as Dash explained his problem.

"Jazz has given me so much extra schoolwork that my computer's overloaded. Got anything to make it work?"

"Oh, sure do." Danny answered as he picked up a part for a computer and the software. "This motherboard and this Portals XL operating system will make it work like it's brand new!" He handed it to Dash and continued as he fished out another part of the deal. "Twenty bucks takes it all, and I'll even-" He pulled out an upgrade disc to join the bundle. "-throw in this upgrade disk, just install it FIRST before you tackle the homework."

"Done. See you tonight. And just because I can't believe I'm saying it," Dash poked Danny's chest as he spoke. "I will say it again. See you tonight." He then took the upgrade disc off Danny's hands and threw the money behind him as Danny caught it and cheered.

"Twenty bucks!" He pumped his hands in the air as he rushed over and took the box from Cedric as he continued. "I'm in! Oh, jeez. I better get to the mall before the shops close." He rushed over to Sam and Tucker as he gave them the task and gave not a word of counter. "You guys don't mind cleaning up for me, do you? Great! See ya!" He ran off as Sam huffed with crossed arms in disbelief.

"So now we're his clean-up crew, too?" She stopped as Tucker was gone too, heading off as he shouted back.

"See you tonight!" Sam growled before Cedric spoke up, cleaning up the mess of the sale.

"It will not take us long, and besides, Tucker is a tech moron, not a muscle fool." Sam chuckled as she agreed.

"Yep, Mr. TF is 'too fine' for his own plans..." They ensured that it was all done and worked with before night could fall over...

* * *

Tucker made his way to Sam's home before he rang the doorbell before the goth opened the door while talking on her phone, Cedric yawning as he was also waiting on Tucker to arrive as Sam finished on the phone, letting Tucker walk in. "Right. That's two medium, one pepperoni, and one veggie. Put it on my tab." She hung up and closed the door before turning her attention to Tucker. "Hey, Tucker."

"I hope they hustle. I'm starved." Cedric rolled his eyes as he didn't need the pizza, having had an earlier dinner before the doorbell rang and Sam opened it to a delivery boy carrying two pizzas as he spoke.

"Here's your pizza, Sam." Cedric took the pizza off the guy's hands as Sam thanked him.

"Thanks, Nate." She handed him some money, but he shortly exclaimed to the amount.

"Ten bucks? Thanks, Sam!" He headed off and Sam closed the door as Tucker was agape.

"You tipped the guy a ten-spot?"

"Whoops. Sorry. I thought it was a one." Cedric chuckled as the pair walked past Tucker. "Come on. We're watching movies downstairs." Tucker quickly followed and was at a loss as the home cinema that Sam had; giant movie screen, lounge seats, a popcorn machine, and even a soda fountain as he exclaimed.

"This is your downstairs?!"

"Score: Manson: 1, Foley: 0." Cedric commented as he set the pizzas on the snack bar before Sam asked.

"What? Too much?" The African tech-geek nodded as he walked forward and a 'un-huh' as she continued. "I know, I should have told you and Danny this a long time ago, but my family's kind of...filthy rich. Weird, huh?" Tucker dropped his pack in shock as he called out.

"Whoa! Time-out! You're loaded?" He faced Cedric and exclaimed the same. "And why are you NOT flipping out about it!?"

"It doesn't change Sam's place as a friend, so she is loaded, BIG deal..." Cedric smirked as he jumped over the counter, tying his jacket around his waist and working on the snacks as Sam explained how she was loaded.

My great-granddad Izzy was an inventor. He invented that machine-" She paused before twirling a finger in the air. "-that twirls cellophane around deli toothpicks."

Tucker flopped down in one of the seats as he exclaimed again. "You're the deli toothpick cellophane-twirling heiress? No way!"

Sam shrugged as Alex cracked open a pizza box and looked right at home with a toothpick in mouth. "Look, if this is too much for you, we can do something else."

"Are you kidding?!" On the other side of town, Danny was coming back with his new sweats as he looked down to the bag carrying the good stuff on his motor scooter.

"Popularity, here I come." It was too early for such a comment as his ghost sense went off and he glanced back to a soaring Hair Hornet bolting right for him, he saved by his helmet protecting his scalp, but the razor gunned for him again, causing him to drop the sweats when the cord wrapped around him and pulled him into the air before trying to attack him. He stopped it with a clasp with his feet on the cord, prevent it from escaping before it lunged at him twice which he dodged. "Whoa! Whoa! I just got my hair the way I like it! On my head!" He reacted while balancing himself before the buzzing razor turned into an actual razor blade and he panicked. "And I'm way too young to shave!" He wasted no time in transforming to fight the threat. "Going ghost!" He went ghost and slipped out of the cord's grip with a ghost tail instead of his legs as the razor blade slashed into the sidewalk and he flew above it. "Okay, it's a haircut, _not_ a head-cut!"

The two charged at each other before he punched it out of the air and it bounced before turning into a pair of giant scissors and lunging for him again. While he did evade the attack, the moment he garbed the cord, he was along for the run through a building before forcing the scissors to stop and spun to launch the scissors out of there before gunning for his sweats, saving them from a passing car and landing to inspect before noticed the stray piece of cord on the sidewalk as he mused while turning back to human. "I know I should be concerned," He spoke as he got back on the scooter. "...and I will be. Right after the party." He rode off down the street. Back at Sam's home, Sam faced the perky nature of Tucker's questions to her state, Cedric just shaking his head as he had finished with servicing up some snacks and drink for the friends and himself.

"Tucker, are we watching movies or not?" Sam asked with annoyance before Tucker spoke up again, with popcorn and soda by him.

"Okay, okay. Just a few more questions. Could you buy a plane?"

"Yep."

"A yacht?"

"Yep."

"Um...a bowling alley?"

"Nope." He pressed a button on one of the remotes and the screen lifted up to a bowling alley of four lanes as she continued. "There's no place to put a second one." Her grandmother rode out in a motorized scooter before getting a strike and cheering.

"Yippee! Bubbe's hot tonight!" The screen closed back up as Tucker smelled the air.

"That's weird, because you don't _smell_ stinking rich."

"That's a weird notion." Cedric pointed out as he turned to Sam sighing and sitting down. "Were you expecting sweat or something to mark how much a person has?" Sam spoke up as she swayed the path to a different direction.

"Will you stop it? That's the whole reason I didn't tell anybody."

"But I don't get it." Tucker complained as he ranted. "With all this money, why do you hang out with the three of me, Cedric, and Danny? If you flash a little of that bling bling, you'd be Miss Popularity!"

"I don't _need_ popularity, Tucker, especially not if I have to buy it."

"You should tell that to Danny." Cedric just rolled his eyes as Tucker continued. "Can you believe people actually spent good money on that old junk from his parents' shed?" Sam partially agreed as she held up a glowing green remote.

"Well, I did snag this really cool remote for three bucks. And he did give Dash a pretty good deal on the computer stuff." And so they went to watching while at Dash's house, the computer worked like a charm, but when the jock headed off to get ready for the party, the screen went blank before a familiar, shade-wearing face appeared on it and cackled manically of what was to come...

* * *

Back at Fenton Works, Jazz opened the fridge for something to eat before scream and shutting it close when the hot dogs growled and snapped at her before she grimaced. "Great. Leftovers." Danny slid in, showing off the new sweats he brought as he asked.

"Well, is it the bomb? Is it fresh?" He held up two fingers for the last part. "Is it stoopid, with an 'o-o?'

"Oh, it's stupid. I'll give you that."

"Well, you'll change your tune when you see me at the party." He stopped as he noticed that Jazz wasn't dressed up, in fact, she was wearing the same look. "When are you changing?"

"Not changing. Not going." Normally, that provoked a panicked reaction, but Danny questioned it instead.

"So, you just lied to Dash and you would rather stay here than actually play nice. I mean, sure popularity is toxic, but this could be a chance to get noticed at least."

"Don't care. It's just a waste of time and resources and I would rather spend it doing actual work than just 'enjoy the party on party'." Danny sighed as Dash was going to kill him if Jazz didn't turn up, but... It would be a perfect time to test the waters in the first place, his head clearing up some from the initial rush of fame.

"Got it." Jazz looked surprised as Danny spoke. "I'm still going, but just to test the waters, if it is not up to snuff, then I can say I tried and an effort made." He didn't like it, but he did have a notion of...

"Code red!" ...And that was gone as Danny and Jazz looked at each other before she spoke.

"And... not staying." She walked away as Jack burst in and loomed over Danny as he ranted in panic.

"Somebody's raided the junk shed while we were away." He grabbed Danny and hoisted him up as he asked. "Danny, did you see anything?!"

Danny was not just going to say that he sold some of the stuff to get the sweats, so he lied with a suspicious tone. "Uh, no, no! Not a thing, but..." Jack released as he walked backwards out of the home."We should compare notes once I get home from the party. Bye!"

"Good plan, son! In the meantime, I'd better secure the lab." He opened the fridge with a shout. "Cover me, boys. Serpentine!" A chain of hot dogs wrapped itself around him which was questionable at best, but that was left for a later date...

* * *

Danny breathed as he arrived, some doubt lingering in his mind that he was in trouble, but he would first test the waters as he spoke to himself. "Okay, this is it. Don't screw it up. Look out, world, here comes Danny Fenton!" He rang the doorbell and frowned as Dash arrived, but not in the latest sweats, more like his usual look which was bad, questioning with confusion. "Uh, Dash?"

Dash leaned against the doorway as he spoke. "Oh, right, right. You're not really part of my posse, so you didn't get the email." Danny raised a brow as Dash explained. "You see, after buying that computer stuff, I didn't have enough money to buy the sweat suit, so I changed the dress code to loser chic!" Behind Dash were members that were dressed like him, Tucker, and Sam, a few tried Cedric, but they just didn't have the intensity of the guy as Danny mused, heading in.

"Oh, swell." He looked about as Paulina stepped on over and commented on the Sam look.

"You like it? It's so horrible, it's cool!" She noticed the clothes Danny had and remarked. "Eck, who dressed you, your mom?" Before she could walk away, Danny spoke.

"It WAS the 'latest' trend before Mr. Baxter decided 'loser chic', so as you do to me and everyone else, buzz off, Queen P." He headed off, leaving Paulina stunned as he sighed a deep huff. "I messed up bad..."

The trouble was not over yet as Technus yelled, recovering the connection in the computer. "Yes! It is time!" His face appeared on the screen as he called out. "Calling all mechanized spirits! Come to me, my minions! It is time..." The computer started to float to the beckoning call. "...to fulfill my destiny!" Green electricity surged from the computer as he laughed maniacally. It extended out of the window and spread across all of Amity Park, summoning electronics and appliances to the ghost as, at Sam's house, the duo watched an karate action movie before Cedric spoke up to the screen pausing and looping the action scene.

"Sam, it's not suppose to do that, is it?" Sam looked and groaned with annoyance as she remarked.

"Tucker, if you want to watch a part over again, could you please tell me first?"

"Me? You're the one messing with the remote." The remote flowed before floating upwards between them in midair before Tucker commented again. "I'm not schooled in the ways of the rich, but do all your remotes do that?"

"No. Well, my toaster does, but it's from Denmark." Cedric raised a brow on HOW things from Denmark would do such things as Sam exclaimed. "That stuff Danny was selling must have been contaminated with ghost stuff!"

"A type of protoplasm or something?" Cedric asked before yelping, the remote blasting both the popcorn and soda machines and blasting both popcorn and spraying soda all over the room as the trio stayed low before the remote phased through the ceiling the trio took to the streets as they watched a steady stream of tech soar through the air in a general direction.

"Looks bad. Probably a job for Danny Phantom."

"Probably." Sam hissed as she continued the train of thought. "And if I wasn't so mad at him, I'd probably care that it's going to interrupt his big jock party. Shall we?"

"Honestly, knowing our luck, it IS going to the jock party." Cedric pointed out as he continued. "Well, we got time, now let's crack down." They rushed off, Cedric surprised the both of them when he spoke into a mic in his ear. "Manual Code: Exorcist." His body was suddenly enveloped in steel and metal, a visor covering his face with a gas mask as well, Tucker geeking as Sam gaped.

"How long did you have that!?"

"A few days, took a bit to reverse-engineer Skulker's suit for the right gear and settings." Cedric answered in a more mechanized voice, the chest closing up to a glowing teal in the center and lining into the heels and the palms of the armor. "Let's not waste time, we need to get going!" He quickly snatched the pair and rocketed them over to the source of the tech gather. Meanwhile, Danny remained in disbelief as he took in the surroundings and scowled, everyone, even a few of the 'nerds' were here, this whole party was in spite of him and him alone as he shook his head and headed upstairs, dodging each attempt to make him the victim of a mess-up or a spill as he mused. "What am I doing? These people aren't my friends, even if they all look like them. Man, I wish Tucker, Sam, and Cedric were here. It's lonely being popular." As he sighed again, his ghost sense kicked in and he headed onward upstairs to find the source of the sense where it was directed to... Dash's room? "That's odd." He opened the door and gasped. Technus, now inside the computer that Danny gave Dash, was laughing manically as appliances and electronics floated around the floating monitor before merging together, smoothing out to create a robotic battle suit for the mad scientist power.

"I am Technus, master of all things mechanical! And once I complete my construction, you will all succumb to my awesome pow-" Suddenly, the face glitched and the head came loose as Technus painfully commented. "Ow! Ooh! Pow-pow!" He grabbed the head as he questioned. "What is wrong with me?"

Danny quickly noticed the upgrade disc and exclaimed. "The upgrade! Dash still hasn't upgraded the software, even though I TOLD him to!" He glanced between the suit and the disc before he spoke. "Oh, no!" Becoming Danny Phantom, he primed himself for battle. "You're not getting that upgrade disk and making yourself more powerful!"

"What? Another great idea! The heck with tutoring! You should be a teacher!"

"...I hate myself for just opening my mouth like that." Still, he wasted no time gunning for the disc, only to have Technus produce a toaster from his shoulder and fire at him before he could hold on to the disc, phasing into Dash's closet as he questioned to the sheer amount of letterman jackets and the large amount of teddy bears.

"Ghost toast? Jeez, how many letter jackets does one guy need? And these-" He picked one up and grimaced. "-I don't even wanna know." He dropped it before he charged out, slamming into Technus before the disc could be taken, crushing Dash's bed as the result before a karate-chop from the machine knocked Danny into the wall as the machine spoke in Technus's voice.

"You are a formidable opponent, but a little wet behind the ears. Perhaps you could use a little drying off?" He grimaced before a claw erupted from the chest and grabbed him. His struggle in vain as he was pulled into the dryer and given an express cycle before getting launched into the dresser, Technus taking the moment to pick up the disc with an exclaimed before Danny slammed into him and wrecked Dash's TV and stereo.

That was the worst plan as, while Technus was busted a bit, the upgrade disc flew high and ended up going into the drive, he then grinned with a evil growl as the installation completed before Danny charged again, slamming into the machine as both went intangible and through the wall, just as Dash entered the destruction of the room in surprise and blamed it on the one person who had headed upstairs, but was nowhere to be found in the part.

Meanwhile, the trio of friend met back up, having divided to pick up a Fenton Thermos for the job as Tucker yelled and mused.

"Sam! Cedric! I got the Fenton Thermos! You know, Danny's really got to start carrying this in some sort of lunchbox."

"Everything is gravitating here to Dash's house. Looks like whatever fun Danny's having will be coming to an end soon." Cedric shouted in surprised.

"Incoming Phantom!" They jumped as Danny flew by and slammed into a building before he noticed the friends in a daze.

"Hi, Sam. Hi, Tuck. Hi, metal man. Glad you could make it." He fell to the ground unconscious as the trio turned back to where Danny flew from to a titan mix of machines and technology emerging from the alleyway as it bellowed.

"I am Technus, master of technology and destroyer of worlds! Behold my awesome electronic fury!" It bent forward as it asked. "Who's your daddy?"

"Not you, that is for sure." Cedric answered as Danny regained consciousness and took the fight back up as he went on the attack, but nothing was working as the machine titan just smack him out of the air and to the ground as both Tucker and Sam stared him down, Cedric engaging to aid.

"Guys? Help!" Cedric joined the fight, but the blasts that he fired didn't phase the behemoth as Danny joined again, getting smacked again as Tucker and Sam just crossed their arms and turned their back. "Come on, guys!" He tried again and knocked down one more as he shouted, Cedric sharing the same fate, but using the buildings as a level point and not getting too much damage in. "Guys, come on, seriously!"

He tried once more and apologized for his behavior toward them. "I'm sorry I chose hanging with the popular kids over you guys. It was stupid and shallow and I'll never do it again!" Technus bashed him in the back and into the ground again before the pair smiled at each other and looked down to Danny.

"How can we be of assistance?" Danny got up as Technus was distracted by Cedric.

"He's running an old version of Portals XL."

"That piece of vaporware? It's the worst software ever." Tucker raised a point as he had a plan.

"Keep him busy. I think I know how you can beat him."

"That, I can do with some help." Danny flew up and insulted Technus, not the best plan, but it had to do. "Get back, you hunk of my dad's junk!"

"Could mere junk do this?" A remote and robotic finger emerged from the dryer before changing Danny's image as Cedric commented to what happened to the ghost boy with the press of a button.

"Too western..." The cowboy went away for the next. "Too shaped..." The model changed to a pointed elf blue shirt as Cedric just quoted. "Live long and prosper, old friend..." Danny had enough before he snatched the remote with a shout.

"Give me that!" He corrected his appearance before being grabbed by Technus's claw and slammed into the wall as he plead to the attempting Tucker. "Tucker, any time!" Tucker answered back as he worked his PDA overtime.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!"

"What's wrong?" Sam asked as Cedric gave Danny moments of peace before being swatted out of the air, but not to the ground as luck would have it.

"I'm trying to bypass the program, but I can't! He must have upgraded."

"What do we do?"

"We need the latest version of Portals XL," Technus focused on slamming Danny as Tucker continued his question. "...but where are we gonna get it this time of night?" Somehow, Sam had the answer as she spoke.

"Leave it to me." She pulled out her phone and dialed a number in as Danny grunts for an answer as he asked.

"Guys?" Somehow, unfazed of the giant robot attack going on, a delivery girl arrived on a scooter and handing Sam a disc.

"Here you go, Sam."

Sam quickly took the disc and gave her the money in return as she thanked the girl. "Thanks, Tracey."

"Wow! You have access to the latest technology after hours?" Tucker exclaimed as the girl just answered.

"Yep." Tucker tried to be flirty about it as he inquired.

"What else can you do after hours?" Technus finally hit Cedric out of the air as he pulled himself from the black top before glancing at the two and pointing at the girl.

"He is a deluded tech-wiz, don't give him the time of day right now, if at all." He jumped back into the fight as Tracy held up a form on a clipboard.

"Just sign the voucher, sir." Sam took that time to distract Technus as she spoke up.

"Uh, excuse me. I'm Sam. I don't believe I caught your name. Perhaps you should scream it really loud and shout out your motive." The machine looked down to Sam and could have done nothing more than stomp, but it acknowledged regardless.

"Hello." He then shouted to the world. "I am Technus! Manipulator of machines! Lord of all gadgetry! Wizard of integrated circuitry!"

"Go on." Sam asked as she picked up two power cords as she asked for more. "Isn't there more you'd like to tell me?" She plugged in the two together as Technus fell for the trap; hook, line, and sinker.

"Oh, yes! I am also master..." The machine somehow started to glitch as the speech was also tampered with. "of all..." It faded out as Danny asked.

"What's happening?" As it turned out, Cedric had taken the time to snatch a power cord out of the suit's body and Tucker had brought his connector cord along for his PDA accessing directly, the cords were compatible which was a shock, but not as shocking as Technus was to the SHUTDOWN command being given as Tucker filled them in.

"Portals XL is happening. Everybody knows that every new version of Portals XL has a gigantic hole in its security system."

"What?! No!" The glitch continued and the claw released as Danny cheered.

"Yes!" He quickly garbed it before pulling it to the one place where things would go wrong for Technus. "Process this!" He shoved the claw into the disc drive which caused errors to appear and it electrocuted the suit as Technus exclaimed in defeat.

"Wait! That doesn't go there!" The suit shut down and collapsed before shutting down, hunched forward as Tucker finished the ghost.

"And for my final trick..." Pulling the Thermos out, he tossed it to Danny who caught it and used it to absorb the mad scientist out of the suit as he screamed into the swirling vortex.

"Noooooo!" Technus disappeared as Danny capped it, the suit disassembling into a heap of electronics as Sam commented.

"Nice going, Tuck." Danny landed beside them with Cedric looking over the pile before shaking his head as Tucker voiced the victory, holding the upgrade disc up.

"Don't thank me. Thank lousy software." After that, Danny hauled everything back and refunded it all, apologizing as it was 'discovered' that several months of wear had accidentally broken some of the things at the sale, a 'professional' opinion from Cedric even supported this as the motor was actually made for a small vacuum, but it was able to overcharge at impossible times. No one actually questioned any of it, not even Lancer who still wanted a motor and was pleased to have gotten a substitute and a good one at that from a second sell that Cedric held at discount prices...

* * *

The next school day, the four worked down the halls of Casper as Tucker asked about the breakdown that Danny likely faced. "So, what's the damage from this weekend? Did you get in trouble for taking your folks' stuff?"

"Not really." Danny answered as he explained it and how dull his father was about the whole thing. "I hauled it all back to the shed yesterday while they were out. My dad's checking every piece for government surveillance devices."

"Sounds like you got off pretty easily."

"Well, I DID have to return those stupid sweats so I can refund everybody's money." He shrugged as he stopped walking and spoke to the trio. "And I still feel terrible about the way I treated you guys. Of all people, I should know how it feels to be invisible." Sam leaned about a locker as she asked.

"So would you say you've learned a lesson from all this?" Danny's answer came from Dash who opened his locker to a flood of teddy bears before yelling, somehow connecting it to Danny at once.

"Fenton!"

"Yep. That one person's trash, is another person's revenge." Cedric face palmed with a smile as the trio laughed, none the wiser to how the star quarterback had a locker full of teddy bears and who REALLY was behind it as Fenton answered the most simple question, what did he do at the party and he quote.

'I pointed out the flaws to the party, I avoided any messes nearly made, and I was upstairs briefly, but not in his room, I didn't even want to know what could be waiting in there...'


	5. S1 - Splitting Images

In the halls of Casper High; Danny, Tucker, Sam were carrying boxes that was labeled with 'Save the Frogs' while Cedric trailed behind with the addition of a mono-eye piece of some digital display before Danny asked the most important question of their situation. "So, why exactly are we breaking our backs here, Sam? And not give one to Cedric?"

"Frogs' rights. We have to stop dissecting frogs in our school biology labs. And at today's assembly," They stopped walking as Sam continued her rant, ignoring the comment about Cedric on account of getting a better Thermos, somehow pulling insight from some random show with a British actor and a phone box that was bigger on the inside. "...I'm gonna demonstrate a humane alternative." She tilted the box forward for Tucker to read the words on top of it.

"'I Can't Believe It's Not a Frog Cadaver?'" Sam set the box down before pulling out a oozing mechanical frog before it started croaking out something to do with it.

"Please remove my detachable three-chambered heart." It croaked again just before Danny's sense went off and Cedric frowned as they all looked at the sitting box to see it glow green and shake, surprising Sam as she accidentally tossed the frog and landed it on Tucker's head, he struggling to get it off as Danny sighed to the figure that formed from the green smoke that bellowed out.

"Oh great. _Him_ again." The ghost spoke its name and its intentions to all in earshot, which were only the four, with waving arms.

"I am the Box Ghost," He ranted while glowing green. "...and I _will_ have my corrugated cardboard vengeance!" Danny turned into his hero persona, Cedric taking the box as the Box Ghost floated above them, Sam pulling the fake frog off Tucker's face before he exclaimed while covered in the green slime.

"Oh, gross!"

"You guys get to the assembly." Danny spoke as Cedric nodded and the trio headed off as Danny turned back to the pest ghost. "I'll get this moron sealed up tight." But the moron had some tricks as one of the discarded boxes opened and Danny grimaced to scalpels soaring out and nearly impaling him, had he not turned intangible. He quickly felt his chest and breathed as he remarked. "Huh. Maybe Sam has a point." His pause let the Box Ghost slam into him, sending him flying through a series of lockers and rooms before tumbling into the backstage of what he thought was the auditorium. His landing somehow also turned him back as he spoke again. "Oops, this is not going to be good." He didn't muse long before the Box Ghost, having followed in with phasing through the wall, ranted.

"Tremble before the might of the..." His hands glowed green. "...Box Ghost," A box floated up as the rant continued. "...as you are devoured by..." The overall ghost read the label before proclaiming again. "Uh, oh yeah. Costumes and props from the Broadway classic, _My Fair Lady_!" The box opened and a surge of clothes flew out before rushing Danny, knocking him back and under the clothes as the ghost laughed before shouting his 'Beware' before taking off through the ceiling as Sam TRIED to make her statement, speaking into the mic she had.

"Fellow students, something sick and disgusting is taking place right here in our school, and I'm about to show you what it is." The curtains opened for a large 'Save the Frogs!' sign, but that was not what people noticed at first as silence came before laughter and pointing. Sam turned to find Danny, standing up from the pile of clothes and was wearing a white-and-pink dress, a matching hat atop a wig of curls as Danny was embarrassed before he spoke.

"I didn't see any frog costumes in here, the clothes kind of fell on me." Tucker wasn't helping as he cheered.

"Whoo! Take it off!" Sam glared at their friend as Cedric just looked before shrugging before repeated with a serious tone. "No, seriously. He should take it off. That's weird."

* * *

The day was shaping up rather well, a few students were still laughing, but Danny actually was able to take it in stride as Sam lectured Danny for what he pulled. "Thanks to your little dress-up parade, my 'Save the Frogs!' presentation was a total bust."

"And speaking of bust, did you see Danny in that bra? Puce is not your color, pal."

"How did you even get dressed like that, the Box Ghost just threw clothes at you." Danny shrugged as they approached a locker covered in yellow caution tape, a piece of paper in Danny's hand as he spoke.

"Yeah, and now because that idiot Box Ghost trashed my locker, I've been assigned a new one." He looks over the numbers and speaks them aloud. "Locker...seven-two-four." Both Sam and Tucker gasped and looked like they had seen something terrible as Cedric raised his brow, Tucker pointing to the rusty, worn-down locker that was the locker given to Danny as Danny questioned while they walked over to it. "Guys, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." He chuckled before continuing the line. "...Or something really scary that we don't see every single day."

"Hello?! Locker 724? How do you not know the legend of locker 724?" Danny shook his head as he opened the locker, finding a gold-framed mirror inside which was perfectly intact as he reached over and touched it, it sparkling as the Fenton boy asked.

"What's the big deal with 724?" Before more could be said, the wig from the costume slammed itself onto Danny's head by the hand of Dash Baxter as he mocked.

"You left something behind, Fenton." Danny rolled his eyes as Dash and two of his jock buddies laughed before Dash continued. "Let's see if it fits in your new locker, with you inside!" With that, Dash grabbed Danny and shoved him in before slamming the door, the trio laughing as Tucker worked the locker as he mused.

"I was gonna tell you the locker was cursed," The locker opened and Danny fell out as Tucker finished. "...but I think you figured that out." Danny shook his head, slightly peeved with Dash as he spoke.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'll show you cursed. Cover me." He grabbed the both of them before transforming in the huddle and overshadowing Dash, ramming him into a locker before dunking his head in the janitor's mop bucket before leaving and transforming back with the friends as he high-fived Tucker while Sam glared at him and scolded.

"Danny."

"Relax, Sam." Tucker turned back to Danny as he commented. "It's about time you used that Phantom advantage for some ghostly get-back."

"That is if it doesn't bite him back." Cedric pointed out as he fist-bumped Danny and continued. "We should get going, no sense in lingering here." Sam sighed a bit as she headed off, the three guys behind her, but if any of them had lingered so, they would have heard a ghostly voice speak up from the new locker of Danny's.

"Bullies." A green light blazed alive behind the locker door as it repeated. "Bullies!"

* * *

The day and night continued before the next day as Maddie was working on a pair of mechanical gloves, Jazz was reading a book, while Jack ate his breakfast and took a few moments to comment and make theories with Maddie on the invention before Danny joined him and Jack spoke up. "So, Danny! What's this I hear about you getting a new locker?"

"Oh, uh, hehe. Uh, no big deal, really. Uh, nothing for you and Mom to get obsessive about." Jack almost lashed out in anger as if the new locker was the bane of existence, but he added to the line with a whisper to Danny.

"Why? Is it haunted?!" He leaned over and did so. "Like REALLY haunted?"

"Not sure..." Danny answered back in whisper, Tucker said it was cursed, but Danny didn't see it yet as Maddie joined in.

"Don't worry, son. You'll barely even notice us while we're staking out that locker during normal school hours." That got both guy's attention as Danny knew that they could do that and Jack knew that he was kinda loud and large to NOT be missed. It was that moment that Jazz spoke up from her book.

"What?!" She got up and walked over as she protectively covered Danny. "No! Danny is at a very critical stage in the development of his peer groups." He raised his fingers in a 'quote-unquote' motion as Jazz just lectured. "He's already considered a clumsy nerd. The _last_ thing he needs is you two confirming it."

"Nice defense, Jazz. Total confidence-builder." Danny remarked as Jack took the strange gloves off Maddie's hands and showcased them with putting them on as he commented with confidence.

"And the best part is, thanks to the new Ghost Gloves, when that ghost comes out of that locker, I can spar with it mono à ghost-o." He punched a pillar and Danny was both amazed and surprised that he brought down a column of pipes and more from the ceiling with those tools as Jazz spoke up.

"Don't worry. Maybe girls will talk to you in college." She headed off as Danny before he voiced to himself.

"Girls talk to me, it's not really my fault that they dislike my guts... except Sam, she's a friend... a extreme, revolutionary friend..." He shook his head and headed out, the school was just as rowdy as he worked through his new locker before noticing one of Dash's friends, Dale, and another guy picking on someone from the marching band.

"Hey, Tubby the Tuba." Dale snatched the shako cap with a comment. "Nice shako." He then twisted it on the kid's ear as he continued. "Does it remove earwax, too?" Without prompt, Danny slammed his locker and stormed off as he didn't want to get involved with the problem right now, but that didn't mean that no one would do a thing as the locker glowed with the voice speaking up again.

"Bullies." Dale tossed the cap, after taking it, to his friend as the guy shouted.

"Go long!" He threw it and Dale went for it, only to get wrecked when the locker door swung open with such force that he broke his nose and left him in a daze as the shako fell on his head; while further down the way, Paulina used her charm to stop a boy wheeling a projector and asked in a flirtatious voice.

"I'm so fascinated by AV equipment." She distracted the poor boy while Kwan snuck up from behind. "Can you show me how it works?" Kwan tied the boy's shoelaces together to get the guy to trip, but the same power that nailed Dale struck again.

"Bullies!" A surge of green energy surged out of the locker and across the ceiling before knocking a trophy onto Kwan's head, causing him to stumble and hit a fire extinguisher case. The case opened and the extinguisher tumbled out before spraying form all over her before the shoelaces somehow fixed themselves with a little green glow as he was nonetheless unaware as he headed on his way. Lunch soon came around and the popular table went over their encounters of something else as Dale had a few tissues on hand to deal with the sudden injury.

"And all of a sudden, this locker door flies open and _nails_ me." Paulina was brushing her hair clean of the form that knocked her back.

"I'm gonna be brushing this stuff out of my hair for a week!" Kwan was just as spooked as he remarked.

"It's like, this school is haunted." Over with the four friends, Sam commented on the 'apparent' level of ghostly attack on the A-Listers as Tucker and Cedric looked toward the same person who could have done those things.

"Apparently, someone's been busy." Danny paused before he answered.

"It wasn't me, I swear. I only have one target and you know that I am 'gaga' over Paulina so why hit her with foam!?" He turned invisible and quickly overshadowed Dash to dump his food on Paulina before leaving again, leaving Dash confused as ever and still no backtalk or anything from Dash as Danny turned visible again and remarked. "Now _that_ was me." Sam tried to convince Danny to stop.

"Danny, I don't think you should be using your powers like-" She herself stopped when she spotted Mr. Lancer at the doorway and spoke. "Lancer. I'll be right back!" She runs off as Cedric sighed and just ate with his own comment.

"That girl is SO trying to get her point across, how will this turn out...?" Danny shrugged as Tucker spoke up.

"Don't listen to her, Danny. It's about time somebody struck a blow for Sidney Poindexter."

"Sidney who-dexter?" No, really, who was Poindexter, a person or a place? Cedric answered as well as he cleared his throat before speaking.

"Oh, that is what you meant." Cedric turned to Danny as he explained, Tucker pulling up a article about this 'Sidney'. "Sidney Poindexter was a student back in the fifties and owned Locker Seven Two-Four before you." He crossed his arms on the table as he continued. "He was one of the geek squad who was subjected to much worse pranks and bullying than anyone known in the history of Casper. Apparently, the very act of bullying him had become a requirement for graduation and it is said that he was stuffed into his locker so many times, it was believed that his spirit inhibits it even now." Danny raised his brow as he asked.

"And...?" Tucker looked confused while Cedric frowned.

"It's hazy, but after one such bullying experience, Sidney couldn't take it anymore, his kind and good nature lost value and, taking the matter alone, he took his own life." Danny frowned as Cedric continued to Tucker's actual surprise to the detail. "Whether it was an accident or on purpose, no one knows, but if he still clings here, it is likely that he is doing those attacks on the popular kids, to protect the little guy and geek alike, so try not to stump so low to make yourself the bully over a victim." Danny nodded before the trio heard Sam return with... a box of frogs as Danny questioned.

"Sam, what are you doing?"

"Nothing." She answered with suspicion as she set the box on the table bench and try to divert the subject by SAYING the subject. "Certainly not trying to smuggle frogs out of the bio lab while Lancer isn't looking." Suddenly, Danny was pelted with hamburger patties as Dash seemed to have recover enough to throw food.

"Hey, guys." Dash was holding some patties in hand with a few of the jocks with him. "What do you say we 'meat' my new locker neighbor?" Danny wiped the patties away as he glared at Dash with green eyes, but Sam held him back as she spoke.

"Easy, Danny. Take it easy." He sighed as he agreed.

"You're right, Sam. I-" He would have been pelted, if Cedric hadn't vaulted over and caught the random food stock in hand, bringing it up as he spoke.

"Rather uncooked, let me show you what a 'hot' patty can do." Danny grimaced as he worried that the food would come alive in Cedric's hand, but instead, the meat turned brown with a swift blast of steam and he threw it, the jocks caught it to their misfortune as it was too hot for their hands before Cedric finished, tossing the leftovers in the air and catching a sandwich that he snacked on before he spoke. "Don't try me, Baxter, you know my limits." The jocks didn't answer as they took off with hot patties before Danny spoke up, somehow getting a sandwich from Cedric as well from the throwing chaos.

"Thanks, Cedric, I didn't know you could do that."

"I am a man of many skills." Cedric smirked as they ate the sandwiches and sat back down as Tucker mused.

"Hmm. I wonder how Dash would feel if he had a frog in his throat."

"Or twelve. In his pants." Danny answered without thought as he looked at the box of frogs as Sam quickly shouted otherwise, picking up the box.

"Oh, no. You're not gonna exploit innocent amphibians for some juvenile revenge scheme."

"Juvenile?" Danny answered as his eyes flashed green from the indifferent look. "It is just a bit of payback, besides I am not using the full box." Later on, Danny was true to his word as he had a small box of frogs in hand and flew over as Phantom before pulling the back of Dash's pant open, to his exclaim.

"Hey!" To bide time, the underwear was wedged over Dash's head and the frogs were dumped in as he screamed in pain with ripped underwear and a hop around the hallway. "Wh-ow! Ow! O-ooh! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Danny allowed a chuckle before he remarked with the thought.

"A bit too juvenile, now that I think about it, but he actually had it coming for a while now." What he was not expecting was his locker finally releasing it's prisoner with a shout.

"Bullies!" A monochromatic nerd with specs surged half-way through the locker as he cheered. "Hey! I'm free! Finally, the doorway's been opened!" He quickly noticed Danny and confronted him while Danny was in his monologue. "You think that's funny, buster?" Danny stopped as he noticed the individual that was floating near him as he stated.

"Huh? What? Wait? You can see me? As I am?"

"Yeah, that's right, bub. Now leave that poor kid alone." He turned visible before looking between Dash and the new spirit that should have alerted him and back before he spoke.

"What? Oh." He could have laughed completely, but he lightly chuckled instead as he spoke. "Oh, man. I'm sorry, but do you ever have it backwards here."

"Don't hand me that jazz, Clyde. You're the bully from where I'm standing." Danny paused as he spoke.

"Okay, you got me there, but I'm not really the bully from where I'm..." He stopped, looked down and pointed at his feet. "Uh, floating."

"Uh, okay. Floating. Let's see how..." The old-fashioned spirit rose his arms and the hands started to glow green as he shouted. "...you like getting bullied." The locker swung open to the ghost's command as his eyes glowed red before school supplies surged out, the cafeteria faced flying trays and food and the science lab suffered broken materials and chemicals to Mr. Lancer's surprise as Jazz tried her best to convey that nothing was happening in the school to her parents outside.

"How many times do I have to tell you? There's nothing weird going on in this school!" Both Jack and Maddie shared a look of disbelief to that notion before a crowd of students surged out in fear before Jack jumped into action.

"Move, Maddie, move!" The ghost hunter parents charged into the school as Jazz slapped her forehead in annoyance as the school supply soared through Danny who had gone intangible to the attack as he tried diplomacy, Cedric's request for any fight with the ghosts.

"Look, you don't understand."

"I understand a bully when I see one." A ghost ray fired out of Dexter's eyes, hitting Danny as he flew through the library, and into another hall before he flew on back, sticking through the lockers as Sam was rounding up the loose frogs that Dash had gotten out and putting them back in the box.

"There you go, little fellas." The two came to a stand-off above her as the ghost lectured.

"Put an egg in your shoe and beat it, bully." Danny turned visible to the exclaim of the ghost. "I'm Sidney Poindexter," Tucker came up beside the grey-scale ghost as Poindexter pointed at him. "...and wherever there is a single nerd in need, I shall be there."

"Hey, who're calling a nerd?" Danny deadpanned with Cedric who also arrived that he was.

"You are the nerd in our group, Tucker, you and your number of devices." Danny answered as he charged Poindexter, Cedric face-palming as the ghost went intangible and Tucker was slammed into by Danny as the ghost went tangible again to Tucker's exclamation.

"That's the guy who used to have your locker. In your face, Mr. Skeptic."

"In his face?" Poindexter mused as he pulled out an ink pen. "Swell idea." He blasted Danny with ink and laughed before Danny breathed.

"Okay, that is enough, please." Danny charged again and slammed into him as they both went through the floor and into the basement, slamming hard as Danny pushed himself up. "Okay, not my best plan, but I didn't think that talking was going to work right now." The rings appeared around him as he grimaced. "Huh, I'm that weak...? Man..." He reverted back to human and Poindexter gasped in surprise.

"Holy socks! You're the halfa!"

"The what-a?" Danny paused before continuing. "Wait, I actually have a name among ghosts!? I have only be getting 'whelp' from Skulker and no other."

"The halfa." Poindexter went into lecture. "Everybody in the Ghost Zone talks about you. You're half a boy, half a ghost. The halfa! You have all our powers on the human plane. An-" He trailed off to rage as he shouted. "And you're using your powers for _evil_?"

"No! Look! Just listen!" Danny paused as he rubbed his head. "I-I have been holding it in for a bit too long, but I was just getting back at Dash, I-I even accidentally took over Dash's body because I was frustrated and-

"Hey, wait. You can take over a person's body? Jeepers creepers, I would flip if I had your powers. I wonder..." Sidney turned intangible and soared into Danny, weakened from the attacks, entering his body that started to glow green and shake as Danny swiftly demanded with his resistance.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"Giving you a taste of your own medicine, bully."

"Listen to me! Dash- isn't-" Anymore was lost as his whole body started to distort and emit strange sounds before a strange calm came over to Poindexter's voice coming through.

"You might use your powers to pick on innocent kids..." Phantom floated upwards through the ceiling as Sidney continued, his grey eyes now dominating Danny's eyes as Sidney was now in control of Danny's own body. "But I sure as sugar _won't_." Phantom floated into the locker and through the mirror as the surroundings became that of an older time-frame with a grey scape before a jock spoke up.

"Hey, Poindexter." Poindexter's body turned into the locker, the mirror gazing back a pair of green eyes and while Danny's initial reaction was to freak out, he had a different answer altogether.

"I'm going to end Sidney Poindexter... this is not cool..."

* * *

Jack and Maddie ran through the halls with Lancer behind them, soon coming up to Tucker and Sam who still had the box of frogs on hand before Maddie demanded. "Is it true? Did you kids just witness a ghost attack?"

"Fear not, young ones." Jack answered as Cedric rolled his eyes to the sight of electrified Ghost Gauntlets in the air. "These gloves are made for grabbing!" At that moment, Danny appeared from the flooring, Cedric frowning to the sudden appearance as Tucker gasped and moved to cover 'Danny' from sight as he turned tangible again.

"Uh, no ghost here, Mr. and Mrs. F."

"Only a girl trying to create a diversion for her own needs." Sam just went with it as she too spoke.

"Right. Right. No ghosts here." They just ran off as Tucker turned to his 'friend' and slightly scolded.

"Watch it, Danny. Your parents almost caught your intangible act." But Danny just smirked while back in the black-and-white world, the actual Danny took in his new surroundings in Poindexter's body.

"This must be the '50's version of ghostly Casper High, though it's like I dropped into Grandpa Fenton's yearbook, weird..." He stopped as a male teen paused in front of him as well.

"Hey, Poindexter." He pointed at the shirt as he continued. "You got a spot on your shirt." Danny didn't even blink before he snatched the finger, everyone stopping as Danny spoke, focusing his own strength somehow through Sidney's body.

"Not in the mood right now for jokes." Without pause, he turned the fist, a resounding crack came as Danny pushed past and heavily forced a leg that tried to trip him out from under its host, the girl in the poodle skirt responsible lightly sobbing as Danny spoke to her injured state. "Yes yes, see you next fall, I've heard and felt that joke TOO many times." He didn't even pause as he turned, suddenly grabbing a greaser's leg before flipping him over and giving him a wedgie. "You don't abide by the dress code one bit, so what is a wedgie to YOUR record, right!?" He tossed the guy and continued on, the students actually backing up before the doors flew open and Danny hummed before closing them and musing to himself. "I need to figure this out, and soon." Back in the real world, Cedric eyed the now 'Danny' as he spoke, Tucker now carrying the box of frogs.

"Ooh, ooh! Spiff diddly dee, man. So this is what it's like to have friends."

"You sure you're alright, Danny?" Sam asked as Tucker joined in as well.

"Danny?"

"Oh, me? Yeah, right. I'm right like Ike, Mike."

"Why does your voice sound so weird?"

"Uh... puberty?" Cedric narrowed his brow as Tucker asked about Poindexter.

"What happened to Poindexter?"

"Oh, that square?" They stopped walking and Cedric was positive that someone was going to get hurt. "He flew the coop. Permanent-like." Suddenly, he gasped, veins popping up across his arms as he breathed. "Uh, just my lack of breath, that guy nicked me good a bit." But in truth, Poindexter was panicking, Danny's body was just fine, so why did it feel like he was about to break down from the ground up? He walked again to the suspicious looks of Sam and Tucker and Cedric's slight narrowed brow before he breathed and let it go for now as they watched him approach a vending machine with Dash pounding on it.

"Come on! Give me my soda!"

"Hey, let me help you out there, pal." Danny phased his hand through the vending machine and fumbled through it before he found the can and pulled it out, Dash taking it and drinking it as the trio joined again as the football player crushed the emptied can.

"Thanks, Fenton."

"Eh, no problemo."

"What, are you going through puberty?" Dash questioned as Sam and Tucker shared a questioning look for themselves before he shifted through his pockets, lightly groaning before he came to a conclusion. "Uh, you know, I'm a little tight on quarters. Think you can get a few more sodas for me and my pals?"

"Hehe, you betcha." With a wink, Danny phased his hand through the machine to dispense the sodas as Sam scolded.

"Danny, that's stealing." 'Danny' mused as he gathered the sodas in arm.

"Eh, I'm sure that poor kid lost more than his fair share of quarters to the _vicious_ bullies in this school. It's time somebody evened the score." Cedric made a motion with his hand for a half-half notion as 'Danny' called out. "Hey, everybody! Egg creams on me."

"I don't know what the heck an egg cream is, but thanks!" Sam sighed as Cedric just watch it happen.

"Well, this is new." Back with Danny, he spent some time to roll his arms as Sidney's body was a bit overtaxed before he checked his locker in the black-and-white realm.

"This is how I came in." He opened it as he continued to search. "There's got to be a way back through here!" He paused and touched the mirror, looking through his real-world locker as it swung open. "Well, that answers Dale's nose..." He peered through and let his sight take in the crowd being given soda by... him? He stopped before musing. "Of course, he's in my body while I'm in his... how does that even work... we're ghosts, is that it?" He shook his head as he watch it happen before Dash cheered, toasting with his own can.

"Here's to Fenton!" The crowd cheered as well as Danny spoke up in his confusion.

"What the heck?! How did he even...!?" He stopped when Sam and Tucker walked past the locker and called out., unsure where Cedric was right now. "Tucker! Sam! It's me, Danny!" They didn't hear him as Kwan spoke to his body.

"Hey, Fentonmeister! We're short one for touch football. Are you in?"

"Posi-lutely abs-itively." Poindexter spoke through Danny's body as Danny just hung his head in disbelief, how did Poindexter even manage this and does he know...? Danny shrugged as Kwan replied in kind.

"Posi-lutely?" He laughed. "When did you get a sense of humor?" He headed off with the rest of the crowd, Poindexter pausing with a panic and went to slam the locker's door just as Danny closed his side, preventing himself from getting thrown back as he breathed.

"That was a bit close, I need to figure it out." He didn't muse for too long before a jock arrive to torture him.

"Hey, Poindexter. What's black and blue and can't touch the floor?" He chuckled, but it stopped as Danny cracked his neck and turned.

"I... am not in the mood, the answer... you if you don't leave." That enraged the jock, but the smirk returned as he lifted Danny up with the finish of the punchline.

"You! Ha!" Danny just gave a deadpan look, didn't even flinch before the punch was thrown, if anyone was near the real-world locker, they would have heard the wail of a jock that just had his wrist broken and fractured further. On the football field, however, two teams were about to square off, the jocks and Poindexter in one as Dash explained.

"Okay, Fenton. After the snap, I'll hand the ball off to you." 'Danny' saluted before heading off, wincing once as his veins appeared again, but continued on his way with a crazy laugh, heedless of the jock plan to leave him open for punishment as they broke up the huddle for the game. Meanwhile, Danny as Poindexter left the now-broken jock in the halls before he shouted to the crowd, his green eyes flaring to show them the difference from the humble Poindexter.

"Anyone ELSE want to pick on Poindexter!?" That had the effect as everyone backed off before he breathed. "Good, I have long faced this type of abuse for TOO long, it seems to also haunt me here, so DROP it... now." He hissed and the crowd scrambled in fear as he turned to his locker and opened it before resting a hand on the mirror. "Have to contact them somehow." He generated energy as green as his eyes and sent it through the mirror as it emerged from the other side and soared through the school and to the field before starting to carve a message before their feet. Meanwhile, the two groups lined up and Dale past the ball to Dash who winked at him and Kwan to give space on 'Danny' who was confused as Dash passed the ball while Sam and Tucker whined to the coming tackle.

"Well, it was nice knowing him."

"Think I can have his computer?" Cedric shook his head when he joined the pair before he stopped when he noticed the message at their feet, brow raised as the message read. '_TUCKER, SAM, OPEN LOCKER 724'_ which meant what he had suspected, but it confirmed it while the opposite team went to take 'Danny', but he just phased through, making it look like he just dodged them all and ran for a touchdown while the jock group were in states of astonish before Dash spoke.

"Fenton's got game! Who knew?" 'Danny' made it and danced in celebration as the pair of friends breathed in relief before looking down, barely even reading the message before Jack and Maddie ran over, stomping out the words as Jack spoke.

"There's a ghost in here. I can feel it in my boots!" Two individuals, from the small group and the sole person trapped, went 'No kidding' as Jack raised his hands donned in the Ghost Gauntlets. "And I'm not leaving this campus 'til these gloves grab some ghost." The Finder in Maddie's hands began to beep and she turned to the source that was looking right at 'Danny' as it read 'GHOST!' and his image before she commented.

"A ghost? That can't be right." She hummed before continuing her thoughts. "Looks like we'll be staking out the school all night. Don't wait up."

"In that case, I need to use the little ghost hunters' room." Jack handed the gauntlets to Tucker as he continued to reply. "Hold these gloves, son. Where I'm going, there's no need for that much power." They headed off as Dash shouted.

"Party at Fenton's house!" Students cheered as 'Danny' spoke up in joy.

"Hot dog! Where does he live!"

"It's your house, bonehead. Is he hilarious or what?" Kwan commented as Sam and Tucker looked up to the group as she scolded the change.

"Free soda, a touchdown, and the opportunity to trash a classmate's living room. How easily the letter jacket and pom-pom set is swayed." Tucker shook his head as he spoke.

"I don't know. Danny seems a little...off." Cedric nearly voiced his opinion as well before Sam turned her eye to her badge for 'Save the Frogs!' and made to use it.

"Although, the residual popularity effect could work to our advantage." Taking it off, she ran over to Kwan and waved the badge about. "Oh, Kwan! You simply _must_ wear one of these 'Save the Frogs!' badges. It's all the rage."

"I don't know..." However, it had the desired effect as 'Danny' rushed over and took the badge with glee.

"Hey! Boss badge. Can I have one?" He put the badge on and that turned the other kids to Sam's side as Dash called out with Paulina and Kwan joining in.

"Hey, I want one!"

"Me, too. I can wear it with my old army lime green baby tee!"

"Give me one, yo! _I_ started this trend."

"Hang on, folks." She said as Tucker and her headed back to the school. "Plenty more in my locker where that one came from." With the attention taken elsewhere, 'Danny' felt a hand grab him and Cedric smiled as he spoke.

"It's time we had a talk, 'Dexter'." The grey eyes widened before they regained the confidence and a smile as Cedric lead him far from the group as he spoke.

"Whatever you think is happening, it is not, it's just..."

"Danny Fenton throwing in his lot with the popular kids..." Cedric answered as he lightly tossed the guy forward as he continued. "I understand if Danny did something rude or horrible, but Dash is the head football star."

"So what, he got what..."

"Was coming to him?" Cedric hummed before he shrugged. "Maybe you don't care, maybe I don't, but in Casper nowadays, the popular kids are allowed to get away with everything; bullying, cheating, insults, and distractions." Cedric kept Poindexter off-guard as he explained. "Like I said, Dash is the head football star and his favorite subject of bullying and insults is Danny Fenton, the fact that you shifted the power balance is one thing and it would be okay, but I don't think Danny himself is going to sit idly by." He pointed and Poindexter reached up and his hand was veining out. "What would happen to a ghost if their whole obsession, their reason for existence, is suddenly shifted in a different direction?" Poindexter now looked scared as he stammered.

"B-But that square was...!" Cedric nodded as he rested a hand on the guy's shoulder.

"He was stooping to the level that bullies would, I warned him, but he still wanted to get a bit of payback. Vain pride, maybe, but he knows that his powers are not for show, he could do some real damage with them and he is the kind of guy that puts people first unless you push him too far." He removed his hand as Poindexter touched the spot. "I wouldn't stop you from trying to change the status quo, but if Danny somehow unravels your whole world in your own body, you would be facing a possible power reversal and potential spiritual restoration or meltdown." Poindexter looked really scared at the thought while, in the school, Danny finally got Sam and Tucker's attention with his locker swinging open, surprising them as Danny called out from inside the mirror.

"Sam! Tucker! In here!"

"Poindexter?"

"No! It's me, Danny! Poindexter took over my body and sent me into this bizarro spirit world of Casper." Both Sam and Tucker were skeptical as they crossed their arms and Sam spoke for an answer.

"Prove it." Danny had the perfect one, as misfortune for Tucker.

"In second grade, Tucker threw up in your lunch box, but he told you Ricky Marsh did it." Tucker, eyes widen, waved his hands for Danny to stop, but the damage was done as Sam gasped and directed her anger to Tucker.

"What? I kicked him off the monkey bars for that!" She pointed at the guilty-smiling boy and continued. "It was you?" They stopped in recognition and turned to the mirror as both spoke at the same time.

"Danny?" He tried pushing through, but it was in vain as he explained.

"The mirror acts as some kind of portal, but I can't phase through it." He groaned as he continued. "Serves me right. I'm only in here because I was acting like a bully. Now I'm in here and I'm gonna get bullied for the rest of eternity!" He paused before he kept going. "Or I would, but somehow I can control my own strength and... I was a bit more hostile to these other spirits, I swear I think I left that jock in stitches." Sam and Tucker shook off the notion that Danny was a threat to the ghosts on the other side, but Sam came up with a thought.

"_You_ might not be able to get out, but that doesn't mean Poindexter can't get back in."

"I doubt he's in a big hurry to go back where he came from."

Danny paused before he got an idea. "I know how to get him in here. Here's what you need to do."

"No need, home slice." The trio jumped when Poindexter arrived, Cedric behind him. "I need to know what you did to my home." Sam and Tucker felt that it was a conversation that was of the private nature and headed off to keep the popular kids occupied with the badges as Danny and Poindexter had a stare-off, going for a few minutes before Cedric started as he asked Danny.

"Danny, what have you been doing on the other side?"

Danny shortly forgot Poindexter for a moment as he explained. "I... Cedric, I don't..." Danny sighed as he flopped in the locker and continued. "This world... I can use my own strength here, but I could feel the rage, the hate, and bitterness that must have been trapped in Poindexter, I... I stepped up, but with some bad consequences, I just attacked these ghosts for what; freedom, respect, heck even hope?" He hummed as he continued. "I don't know, but I didn't want to be the doormat, I couldn't.. couldn't let that happen..."

"A fight only invokes more hate, Danny." Cedric answered as he remained to the side. "You envision yourself as the hero and, sometimes, a hero must make hard choices to keep going."

"Yeah... but at what cost; his soul or his will...?" Danny just laid there as the two watched him on the other side. "I could have been the cool kid, I could have just stepped out from the shadows of being invisible, but after what happened with Technus, I could see that fame is a curse in of itself, being the top dog is just to let those who helped you to that position, those invisible, take the beatings and trauma, Sam and Tucker have been great, but I betrayed their trust once, Sam even wants me to be the weak link, to keep myself in line, but what stops me from being human...? Just to not be feeling the pain." He sighed as Poindexter spoke, finally taking his chance.

"I was bullied and insulted so many times, but did I attack my oppressors...?" He shook his head as he continued, walking over to the locker. "No, but I was just human, I cared enough to be alive and I took your own body to make myself feel alive again, but I now realize that... I was the fool." He rested a hand in the locker and looked with the grey eyes to the mirror that reflected his face. "Because I died, hating and blaming bullies for their horrible acts and the very reasons to force me to only accept one course to get out of it, I grew as a ghost, centered on the notion that I need to keep the bullies away, but my curse haunts me to my ghostly home, a nightmare of the high school. I was... blind to my own problems because a ghost with his obsession and home threatened with change could be affected just as well, I could be changed or destroyed if you affected my world any further." He pulled out of the locker and transformed into ghost form as he took flight. "That's why, buster, I am going to bring you to a halt, you will not affect me anymore with your acts." Danny was taken back before he smirked.

"Come get it then." Poindexter needed no more as he charged the mirror, phasing into the home he called as Danny dodged and started with Poindexter on the floor. "You've had your fun. Now I want my body and my life back." Poindexter stood up as he spoke in counter, his power and will refresh in his stomping grounds.

"Forget you, bully! You're not going anywhere." He blasted toward Danny, but mucked up the strike, slamming into Danny with his behind as Danny crashed and shook his head as Poindexter tried again with more confidence and will as he laughed and went intangible. "I'm doing it!" Danny dodged to Poindexter phasing through the wall as Danny spoke up.

"You may have my powers, but you sure don't know how to use them. 'Course, I don't know how to use them very well myself, but at least I know how not to use them better than you do and have some great friends to guide me on the path." Poindexter came back to attack as Danny dodged like a pro, his own confidence coming back to him as he called out. "You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses." He ducked under and knocked Poindexter back. "You _couldn't_ hit a guy with glasses." He dodged once more with an under sweep. "In fact, you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn right now!" This frustrated Poindexter as he called out.

"Hold still." The bell rang and the halls were filled with students that now watched as the fight went down, chanting the word.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" Poindexter tried again and again, but Danny had learned well in his own short experiences and training with Cedric when he could as he ducked and left Poindexter spinning.

"Hey! Get a load of Poindexter. He's fighting the halfa!"

"Hehe! Look at him stand up to that weird-haired ghost boy."

"I'm not a bully! I never insisted to be one!" He was knocked into the locker with the door closing as Poindexter, finally hitting Danny, gloated a bit.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna live it up some more in _your_ body." The locker opened and Poindexter drew back in shock as Danny looked back with the mirror in hand and primed to throw it into the ground. "What?!"

"One false move, and I smash your door back to my world."

"You wouldn't. You'd strand us both here." Danny lowered the mirror as he spoke.

"Are you willing to risk that?" Poindexter reached to Danny's keep away before Poindexter tried another tactic.

"I've got a better idea. I can make you. With your powers, I can make you do anything." Poindexter went intangible once more and phased into Danny, just as he smiled, dropping the mirror by the lockers and glowing green as he commented.

"That's what I was hoping you'd do." His body distorted and changed once more before he fell to the ground and he, back in his own body, phased out of Poindexter and flew into the air as Poindexter resumed his own body and exclaimed.

"Huh? No!" He looked up, surprised to see a smile on Danny's face as he spoke.

"Thanks for trying to protect the little guy, but for now, you just get your own page together, you're still you and sometimes, a hero needs to make the hard choice." He flew into the mirror and Poindexter picked it up before he too smiled.

"I think you did more here than I ever did for you. I feel... lighter now, stronger..." He gripped his hand and nodded as he felt students walk over to him and cheer for him.

"Hey, nerd! Nice job standing up to the halfa."

"Who'd have thought you had it in you?"

"You wanna grab an egg cream?" He smiled and put the mirror down in his locker, feeling that it would soon change lockers out in the real world, as he spoke.

"Of course, I could hang here for a little bit." He closed the locker and turned to the students. "Hey, the heck with the egg cream. Who's up for a diet soda? Whatever that is! I could use one right now with all of you!" Back in the real world, Cedric watched as Lancer walked through the halls with a box of frogs before Locker 724 swung open, Danny falling out and toppling Lancer to the ground as the frogs escaped, Lancer chasing after them as Sam and Tucker had waited it out with Cedric after the badges were sorted out.

"No! Come back!"

"Oh, dear. Whatever will we do?" Sam questioned with sarcasm before Danny walked over, looking down as Sam spoke up again. "Good one, Danny."

"Yeah. But how do we know you're really Danny?" Tucker questioned as Cedric joined them to Danny's answer.

"Because I used my powers for the wrong reason and became exactly the kind of person I hate. It got me into a load of trouble, and I'm not gonna do that again, not with people out there who can keep me on the path." Sam nodded as she commented.

"Now that's the Danny I remember." Danny headed back and grabbed the mirror from his locker as he continued.

"Just one more thing to do." Where Sam and Tucker were expecting him to just bust the mirror to prevent Sidney from coming out again, he instead surprised them as he turned and offered the mirror to Cedric. "You take it, Sidney was trusting of you to explain it out for him, I think he needs that sort of friend on his side." Cedric surprised Danny, however, when he pushed it back to him.

"You keep it, he may have been on the wrong foot with you, but he trusts you even more, you changed his world and given him a better reason to be, and he would always have us as his friends on this side of the looking glass." Danny flipped it over and smiled as the mirror flickered to him as well, looking at not the opposite side, but to the four faces that were there.

"Got it." He stashed it under his arm as Mr. Lancer called out.

"Fenton!" They turned to the balding man as he was wearing one of the badges and in front of a crowd that promoted the frog campaign. "You can't just remove school property."

"Sure, I can." Danny paused as he pointed out. "This old thing has got some shine to it and I think it would benefit having a new owner for it." Lancer paused before he sighed and nodded as he stilled punished Danny.

"I'm holding you responsible for the escaped frogs though, but seeing how..." He looks to Dash who was part of the crowd before continuing. "...upstanding students like Dash Baxter have made their opinions known, I'm willing to overlook the frogs. Miss Manson, you could learn a thing or two from them about activism." Sam frowned at the fact that she promoted the frogs, yet she wasn't given the credit as Lancer pulled out a notebook and pencil before writing in it. "Still, that leaves the matter of your locker. I'm going to have to assign you a new one." Danny nodded as he could do with one, the Box Ghost was going to get his moment for now...

* * *

Where Danny's new locker was turned out to be close to the band room as he fixed the mirror and closed the door as a tuba walked past with Dash and Kwan close behind as Kwan commented.

"Hanging with band geeks, Fenton?" Danny shrugged as Dash joined the insult.

"No amount of free soda's gonna fix that." They headed off as two band kids walked up to him and one asked him a question.

"Hi. I'm Lyle. Wanna help me clean my spit valve?" He held up his instrument as Danny paused before shaking his head, but directing them to the fountain before he spoke with a sigh.

"My fifteen minutes of popularity is up, and I wasn't even here for it, must have been fun for Poindexter though." Sam stood beside him as she held a mechanical frog in hand.

"Yeah, but at least it wasn't a total loss." She looked at the frog and continued. "Looks like this baby's gonna get some use after all." From out of nowhere, the Box Ghost swept in and stole the frog out of her hands before boasting.

"Aha! I am no longer the Box Ghost. I am now the mechanical frog ghost!" The frog, however, crackled with electricity and the ghost dropped it in fear, onto Tucker's head before he ranted again. "Uh, I've changed my mind! I am once again the Box Ghost, who will have nothing to do with mechanical amphibians." He raised his arms and shouted. "Beware!" He phased through the lockers as Danny commented.

"Now there's a guy who knows exactly who he is." The frog croaked and Cedric rolled his eyes before removing it, giving Tucker a rag, and handed it back to Sam as the four just lingered for a bit, the mirror that once glowed green with its previous owner's form, now glowed teal with a soothing breeze of lavender in the air, calmly stopping a jock from bullying as he smelled the air and flopped on the floor with a happy look on his face...


	6. S1 - What You Want

On the exterior of Casper High, Tucker was sitting on the steps as he recorded his thoughts on his PDA. 'Some people have a lot, and some people don't. But everybody's got _something_.' He raised his brow with smug confidence and a smile. "Me, I've got charm, good looks, and modesty." He stopped to the record thoughts that he had before continuing. "My best friend, Danny?" Tucker looked up to the sky as he thought back to when it all changed, all because both had let their own sight be blinded...

* * *

At a local swap meet, both Danny and Tucker grabbed the same pack of skateboard wheels before the entry continued. 'He has something else.' The two turned to the other before Danny spoke up.

"Two for me, two for you?"

"Sounds fair." Both reached into their pockets and gave some of the cash to the owner as the entry continued.

'Danny and me have known each other since, like, forever. And we share _everything_.' They headed over to 'Madam Babazita's Mystical Oddities' booth and the African-American tech-head lifted up a bottle that was oddly-shaped and believed to be a genie's bottle, dismissing it just as quickly.

"A genie in a bottle? I don't think so." He put it down and thanked the elderly woman for her time. "Thanks, anyway." They kept on walking as a young girl and her mom passed them before the girl started going off for cotton candy in pleading.

"Please, Mommy! Please, Mommy, can I have some cotton candy, please, please, please, please?"

"I think you've had enough sugar today."

"I want it! I want it! I want it!" The toddler shouted as her balloon's string, having been moved with her reaching for the booth's sugary treat, latched onto the bottle that Tucker was looking at before the thread knocked it to the ground, shocking the seller as green mist bellowed out and formed into a spirit, dressed in a harem outfit with no legs as its seductive voice called out.

"And your heart's desire is my command." She turned into the mist again as Danny stopped when his ghost sense kicked in and turned to see the spirit causing the cotton candy to erupt in geysers, a flood of cotton candy all over the place as Tucker added to the entry once more in explanation about what Danny had that neither of them shared.

'We share everything, except one thing.' Danny looked around before he called out, no one noticing the change at all except Tucker.

"I'm going ghost!" With that call, Danny Fenton was replaced by the face and body of Danny Phantom, the unknown ghostly hero of Amity Park and Tucker acknowledged that in the story.

'Danny's got superpowers.' Danny took flight to confront the ghost that was causing the chaos as she turned and actually replied with curious nature and interest.

"I am Desiree. What is your wish?"

"None of your business, Candy Pants."

"Surely there must be something..." She reached out, but Danny reacted poorly than how he should have as he called out with backing up.

"Hey, get away!" Energy glowed from his hand before he aimed it, blasting Desiree away as he questioned aloud, looking at the glowing hand he now had. "What the heck? What's going on? Is this... a new ghost power?" Tucker agreed as he cheered form the ground.

"That was slamming! Whatever that was." Danny floated down as Tucker questioned. "You've got another power?" Danny nodded as he looked at his hand.

"I guess."

"Man, that's the cool thing about your powers, man. There's no downside!" He raised a hand in the universal sign of friendship. "Gimme five!" Tucker actually chuckled as it was not his brightest moment as Danny tried to high-five back, but ended up blasting Tucker into a pile of cotton candy, more falling on top of him. "I'm okay!" Danny helped the best friend out as Tucker paused before he started it again, starting with the day later on, the football game on Saturday night...

* * *

'So, anyway, I guess the craziness really started at the game Saturday night.' On that day, Sam was actually REALLY sick, but somehow Cedric Trace, fourth friend of the group, had a gas mask on as Sam commented in her miserable state while they sat on the bleachers, sneezing a storm.

"I'm sick as a dog and I hate sports. Why am I here?"

"Because Danny's here and he's got the best seat in the house!" Best seat of the house was out of the question as they looked to the field as the mascot of a terribly-designed raven leapt about as if to promote the game as a announcer called out.

"And now, everybody, here they are, your very own Casper High Ravens!" The football team ran across the field and would have trampled the mascot if it hadn't dodged out of the way with a roll and lashed out its arms in disbelief before removing the beak head a bit to reveal that Danny was in the suit.

"Fill in for the mascot. It'll be fun. You'll meet cheerleaders." He commented with sarcasm before heading off the field as the whistle blew. No matter how much the Ravens tried, they were not in the running as their quarterback was utter, well, crap and his name Dash Baxter. He could catch the ball, but he just stood like a dummy to be tackled, he tried to pass the ball and got tackled, and even tried going the other way which was illegal in real-world football if done fully, and he still got tackled as Tucker whined about the utter garage that the team was doing.

"This is pathetic. Our team's fading fast." Sam sneezed as she headed off.

"Me, too. I'm outta here. Later." She left the game as the team huddled to make a plan as Dash just scowled.

"Man, I wish I could turn into the kind of monster who could crush these guys single-handed." As if on command, a green mist entered Dash as he turned away from the huddle, his body changing to an over-sized monster and ripping the uniform. Danny hummed before turned and noticed what just happened with an confused 'huh'. The beast roared at a teammate, scaring them off before his ghost sense went off to see the harem ghost fly off as Danny exclaimed.

"Oh no!" The monster Dash threw the ball so hard for it to catch fire and just as easily rushed for it and caught it as the announcers commented.

"Wow! It looks like those high-protein breakfasts are really paying off!" Danny rushed over to the remaining two as Tucker spoke.

"Do you believe this, Danny and Cedric? Dash is a beast!" A touchdown cracked the very ground as Danny grimaced.

"And getting beastier." The monster roared with flexing arms as Danny talked to the pair with the last comment from the announcer's box.

"Holy Mark McGwire, look at those arms!"

"I think he's running on ghost power." Danny turned in the mascot suit as he spoke once more. "I need your help!"

Tucker stood up as he exclaimed for a chance. "To kick some ghost booty?" He paused before he gave an answer.

"Sort of." His eyes flashed green while Cedric removed the mask as he took off himself and switched into the Exorcist armor before blasting off to follow the ghost while Tucker answered.

"I'm in." The Dash monster lined up with the players for the snap as his very presence was terrifying before growling.

"...Fifteen! _..._Twenty-five! ...Three two!" Danny floated behind in Phantom form before he exclaimed to the smell.

"Whoa!" He held his nose as he continued. _"_Ghost energy's pretty strong. But hopefully, ripe for the picking." He phased his hand through Dash's head from the back, provoking a questioning 'huh' before Danny pulled a ghost with Dash's shape of head out and took off as Dash shrunk back down, dazed before muttered in his tattered appearance.

"Uh...hike?" The ball went to him and he was tackled down once more as Danny dealt with the ghost behind the bleachers, sucking it up with his Fenton Thermos.

"Back to the Ghost Zone for you, pal." Tucker narrate once more as he typed it down on his PDA of the event.

'Danny had no problem getting that ghost out of Dash.' That meant everything as Danny capped and headed off as Tucker brought on a more... human part of the entry. 'But, we lost the game which was actually true that none of the players were willing to get really dirty, even Dash as he was just posing, but it was still bad news for the guy filling in for Danny, who was filling in for the guy who usually wears the mascot suit - me.' Tucker was the original owner of the mascot suit, using it to try and meet girls, and now, he was hanging upside down from the field goal as a group of Jocks started to approach with baseball bats.

"Man, every time Danny goes ghost, I get the short end of the stick." Tucker grumbled as the moment was added to by the jocks interested to the beatdown.

"Hey, guys. A raven piñata."

"Haha! Let's hit him until the candy comes out." Tucker did grimace, but from the entry, Tucker wrote a bit more as he explained what happened next.

'While that would have been painful and needed some serious R&R, another friend jumped in; Poindexter, having become stronger and made a good friend in the four of us, somehow knew that I was in trouble and rescued me, I have never before seen such a violent torrent of wood and air completely knock out the jocks in such a way, but back to the main tale and Danny's discovery of something that saved me as well.' Heading back to Fentonworks, Danny phased in and landed in front of the portal, unaware of the set-up tent with a strange glowing object before inserting the thermos into a panel on the portal.

"End of the line, gruesome." The content of the Dash monster flushed into the portal and disappeared into the depths as Danny smiled at the portal and started to fly off before flying through something, gasping as he somehow was divided between Fenton and Phantom, both surprised before Phantom entered Danny, the sudden sever fixed in an instant just as a sneeze came out and a sickly Jack's voice called out.

"Who's that? Somebody out there?" Jack and Maddie emerged from the tent that Danny now took in as he asked.

"Am I interrupting something, that I hope I'm really not?" Maddie sniffed as she explained.

"Your father and I are purifying ourselves of negative ghost energy." Danny raised a brow on 'negative' ghost energy and ponder what made 'positive' ghost energy as Jack took over with a sneeze.

"We're trying to richly expel any viral ghosts in our systems with the Fenton Ghost Catcher." Danny looked to the Indian style dream catcher that sat there in a stand behind him as the explanation continued. "It's like an Indian dream catcher, except it expunges ghosts and not dreams, you see."

"You might just have a cold, you know. It doesn't have to be a _ghost_ cold at all." Both parents looked at each other before glaring at Danny and Jack spoke as they headed for the steps.

"I remember when I was that naive." He paused as Danny smiled before Jack walked back over and answered. "It may be a cold, Dann-o, but I don't know if the Ghost Catcher does work, the tent is an old method for sickness."

"Okay, then maybe this could help..." Danny breathed as he walked back over and, with hesitation, stuck his hand through, Jack watched with widened eyes as Danny's arm suddenly split off a black-suited arm with white glove before he pulled it back with a tingling feeling through his body. "Whoa! This one actually works - a little too well. I'm filing this under 'Must Avoid'." He turned and smiled as Jack smiled as well.

"My boy's a good man and help, I guess that 'Halfa' thing is true, eh?" Danny nodded as he followed Jack out of the lab.

"You don't know the full half of it, Dad." Tucker smiled on the familial bond that Jack had developed with Danny, now that he is slowly learning that Danny was actually turning out well as he focused on the next part.

'Even during trying times, one has to remember a fallen comrade.' Even on video-chat, Sam was looking terrible as the entry continued. 'Poor Sam was so sick, and all cooped up in her house. That's the worst.' This was apparent as Sam spoke up, having sneezed enough to knock the ice pack she had on her head right off.

"Ugh! I feel like I'm going to die. I hate being sick!" She sneezed again as Danny spoke on his phone.

"Hang in there, Sam. Tucker and I are gonna come visit you when we're done at the mall. You want us to bring you anything?" Sam sneezed again as she assure them.

"No, no, please. Don't bother. My folks are taking pretty good care of me." If it meant being aided by three nurses, one doctor, and her grandmother Ida who was holding soup before Sam yelped. "Guys, it's just a cold!" That was not really the case as a nurse entered with a defibrillator and called out.

"Clear!" She was shocked before the call cut and Danny put his phone away with the two of them at the theater.

"She's gotta be sick if she's missing _Dead Teacher IV_." Tucker answered as Danny phased through a trashcan, no one noticing as Cedric hadn't reappear yet.

"This time it's personal." The pair kept walking as two girls awed over a Sayonara Pussycat standee.

"Oh my gosh! I can't wait for the _Sayonara Pussycat_ movie. I want to see it _so_ bad!"

"Oh my gosh, I know. Isn't she _so_ cute?" The two headed off as Paulina came over to admired the same thing as she gushed over it as well.

"Sayonara Pussycat is _so _cute! Why can't I be that popular?" Sadly, that somehow invoked a wandering spirit as she called out, her voice a bit changed as she inquired, to the surrounding people's surprise. "Hey, everybody! What do you think of me?" Their shock was to the chibi-like anime form of Paulina floating in the air before they all called in.

"We love you! We love you! We love you, Paulina!" The now-chibi popular started to run on the floor as she called out.

"Look at me! I'm so cute and cuddly and ever-so-wonderful! Don't you think?"

"We agree! We love you, Paulina!" Danny and Tucker were very confused as they watched the abnormal event happen before Danny found his voice.

"Paulina?" A PA speaker blurred alive as Danny was still really confused.

"Attention, moviegoers. Googloplex Cinemas has officially declared it 'Happy Fabulous Paulina Day'." Paulina spoke once more as she cheered with a halt and face to the crowd.

"I don't know what to say. Why squander my popularity here? I'm so adorable, I bet I could become Super Fairy Queen..." Her sudden quadruple in size with her cheer was scary. "...of All Teenagerdom! Isn't that luscious?" The crowd cheered as Danny turned to Tucker for help.

"Tucker, I-" Tucker was ahead with a monotone voice and Thermos in hand.

"Do what you gotta do." He headed off with a murmur. "I'll get seats." Danny nodded as he went ghost and grabbed the large Paulina chibi, taking her away from the crowd as Tucker grumbled with the lack of awesome power that Danny had and the fact that he failed to get the tickets for the big movie, now watching some girlish movie. "Man, I cover for Danny, my movie gets sold out, and I gotta watch _this_ now. I'm tired of being left out all the time. Man, I wish I had ghost powers, too." As fortune had it, he was going to get his wish as the strange ghost appeared behind him, he gasping as she spoke, waving her hand in the air with green mist forming.

"Your heart's desire is my command." The mist enveloped him before she made her leave. The mist disappeared as Tucker looked around to the empty theater before he suddenly turned intangible and slipped under with a scream, emerging from out of the seat with glowing teal eyes and realizing what was happening.

"Sweet!" Meanwhile, Danny phased Paulina out and set her down before she started.

"Hi, I'm Paulina. I'm adorable and swell and full of big-headed anime goodness." Danny didn't accept it as he charged a ecto-blast.

"Bye-bye, kitty." He blasted into Paulina and expelled a anime ghost cat behind her as it spoke.

"Hi! Isn't everything in the world sweet and wonderful and-" She spun before she meowed as Danny sucked it up into the thermos and reverted Paulina back to normal as she held her head while Danny commented.

"Cool. It worked! I can't wait to tell Tucker." He phased through the ceiling before Paulina mused in confusion.

"Wh-where am I? And why do I feel that I'm special and adorable?" She paused before she cheered. "Because I am!" She walked off with confidence while Danny turned back to human and entered the theater before he paused, taking in the crowd for the movie, but no sign of a red-capped friend as he questioned.

"Huh, no Tuck. Eh, he must've taken off." Danny walked off as Dead Teacher IV started to play, but what he didn't realize, Tucker typed in his PDA as he reflected, his story telling how he was actually high above the crowd and was interested in doing mischief.

'Oh, sure, that's what he probably thought.' He turned invisible and trolled the whole crowd in a line; from eating popcorn, sipping soda, putting a toupee elsewhere, and making a 'fake' match up, studying his effects. 'But why would he even suspect... that I was having the time of my fourteen-year-old life?' The match up failed with a punch and Tucker laughed as the next issue came up, involving a car as the owner just harped on the traffic.

"Oh, man. Bogus. Stupid car." He sighed before making a wishful thought. "I wish you could just fly over stuff so I wouldn't have to sit here." That wish was going to be fulfilled, however, as a green mist came through the car vents and the voice echoed.

"So you wish it, so shall it be."

"What the heck? Hey, this isn't my station!" He said as he fumbled with the radio dial before the wheels on the car rolled to flat on the blacktop before launching the car into the air, zooming about as the man screamed in horror as Danny came out and his sense went off before he saw Desiree and shouted as she flew off.

"Jeez, lady, don't you ever take a break?"

"Danny!" He turned and Cedric arrived, his armor receding and he huffed before he asked, no one noticing a thing. "Can you tell me where the ghost went, I've been chasing her down to figure out how to stop this whole madness before it gets worse." He hung his head and looked up before Danny pointed and Cedric thanked him. "Thanks, I better hurry before things get even weirder right about now." Cedric bolted off, Danny raising a brow in pondering about something to his fourth friend.

"As if it could..." He looked up and was surprised by the flying car as he exclaimed. "Flying car?" Danny quickly jumped behind the ticket booth and flew after the car as he called out to the panicking driver. "Hey, slow down, Jeff Gordon! You're going over the speed limit." He paused with a look to the side before continuing. "And the height limit." The driver just screamed as the car zoomed off, Danny deadpanning before Tucker soared under him and called out.

"Don't sweat this one, Danny. I'm on it." Tucker zoomed off before Danny, taking a moment, realized that Tucker was flying and shouted in surprise.

"Tucker?!" Danny flew after the pair and caught up as Tucker seated himself in the car as he spoke up.

"Chill, dude. Tucker Phantom's on the case." Danny phased his head through to hear the part as he commented.

"Tucker Phantom?" Phasing fully in, he continued to speak as he took a seat in the vehicle. "Okay, ignoring the total originality of that, how the heck did you get ghost powers anyway?"

"Who knows? And more importantly, who cares? And now, if you'll excuse me, I have some heroic exploits to attend to." Tucker answered as he gripped the steering wheel before Danny lashed out and took the steering wheel as well.

"Tucker, we're too young to drive!" The driver screamed as the two feuded over control of the car. "Let go of the wheel! This is serious!" Danny got knocked into the backseat before Tucker and the driver screamed as the car hurtled toward a building. Danny focused as he touched the seat, turning the car intangible and letting the vehicle soar through the building before they popped out the other side before Tucker popped his head out before he groaned in spite.

"Oh, sure. Phase the car through the building. You had to save the day, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah, because a car smashing into the twenty-eighth floor of _anything_ is _bad_! Please, think about it, Tuck!" Tucker reply while gesturing to himself.

"You're just jealous because there's somebody else around to grab the spotlight now."

"Yo, hallucinations! Focus!" The driver screamed, but Tucker and Danny were having a spat fest.

"When have I ever grabbed the spotlight?"

"How about right now, for instance?" Danny looked concerned at that and Tucker gained a frown as he spoke. "Oh, I'm sorry, it's just... You always show off somehow and I just wanted..." The driver screamed as both looked forward and gasped as they slammed into a grain silo, stopping the car and burying the trio before the driver emerged with a chicken on his head and commented in glee.

"Chyeah! There's a chicken on my head!" Danny phased out as Tucker followed.

"Tucker, please. This is stupid." Tucker frowned as Danny continued. "You're my best friend. I'm not jealous, I'm just concerned."

"Well, don't be. This town's big enough for more than one ghost kid." Tucker flew up as Danny called out.

"But, Tuck, wait!" Tucker glared at Danny before he turned and blasted off, clearly leaving behind a sonic boom. "Whoa! I can't fly that fast. Is he getting more powerful?" Tucker, doing the entry, grimaced as he realized that he was getting stronger and was getting more... hostile as he parked on in a butcher shop, head poking out from one of the platters that was empty as he was video-chatting Sam on his PDA, her sneeze first before she spoke.

"So, why didn't you guys see a movie today?"

"Uh, we got a little distracted." Sam didn't notice that Tucker was calling from what looked to be a surrounding dish of food in various meats as she blew her nose to Tucker's continued explanation. "I'm just goofing off by myself now." A man walked on by before yelping in surprise and dashing off to Tucker's ghostly antics before Sam asked while Tucker scared a dog off.

"What happened? Danny have ghost trouble?"

"You might say that. So, how are ya?"

"Ugh, it's horrible, Tucker." She sneezed into the tissue and continued to explain. "But somehow, I'll muddle through." Sam closed the laptop as Tucker narrated his adventures once more.

'I didn't want to tell Sam about my new ghost powers yet.' She picked up a remote and held it up to something. 'What if she got as jealous as Danny did?' Tucker paused as he heard that Sam, while sick, had actually had a set of speakers pop up at the foot of her bed before getting loud music that nearly blasting her and the bed away as Tucker instead turned to what forced the friends' bond to be strained. 'And speaking of Danny...' It went down at Casper when Tucker blasted Mr. Lancer with water, surprising him as he exclaimed.

"Moby Dick!" His belt undid itself and fell to the floor, Lancer unable to get it back when the fountain blasted him again with the tie undoing itself. "Gulliver's Travels! I'm losing my mind!" His pants dropped as he finished the sentence. "And my pants!" Students laughed at him as he glared at them while Tucker phased out of the nearby wall at a corner and laughed as Danny returned, sniffing as he mumbled.

"Nice trick. Do you do kids' parties?" Tucker turned as he commented.

"Dude, relax. I'm just having fun." He stopped when he noticed how Danny was looking with widened eyes. "You okay?"

"I may be catching Sam's cold, but that's not important right now. Tucker, look." Tucker cut Danny off as he just answered for the kicks of it.

"No need. You can keep that superhero jazz to yourself. I'm in this for the kicks."

"I was afraid of that." Danny sighed as he put a hand on Tucker's shoulder as he answered. "I hate to do this, pal, but I need to see what's going on inside of you, and there's only one way to do that." Danny did just that as he went intangible and overshadowed Tucker, trying to get to the root of the problem, but Tucker's sudden resistance took Danny by surprise as Tucker blasted Danny out of his chest into a 'Personnel Only' door before Danny turned back to normal and Tucker growled as he opened the door and glared at the toppled Fenton.

"Don't _ever_ do that again. Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good." Tucker, making the entry, frown as he narrated again, looking up for a moment to realize that Danny was indeed meaning well, but with the sudden ghost powers and the hostile tone that Tucker had gained, he lashed out the same as he answered it.

'Okay, maybe I was a little rough on Danny. But nobody likes a party pooper. And man, was I having a party.' He pulled that off with trolling the students with a floating tray and grabbing food, pouring soda into a tuba and watching the poor kid gush the sugary beverage before moving to his ultimate trick right then.

"Hmm, there's one little ghost trick I haven't tried yet: the ghost-imposed hookup." Paulina was coming down the way and Danny was coming by when his sense went off and he spotted the troublemaker with a simple answer.

"Oh no." Tucker took the chance as he overshadowed Paulina with glowing teal before Danny could approach her and stopped walking as she placed a hand on the hip and spoke to Danny in Tucker's voice.

"I just wanted to let you know, I'm gonna start dating Tucker Foley." The possessed person pointed at Danny as she continued. "He's much cooler than you are, so stop chasing me."

"Tucker, get out of there. Also, is it empty?"

"Why don't you make me?" Tucker answer with the shake of the head as Danny face-palmed and continued.

"Fine! I will!" Danny yelled as he joined Tucker in Paulina's possessed body, slightly feeling sorry for her as she has been possessed a few times already, but that didn't stop him as her body glowed green before green eyes flashed out as Danny took control and demanded of Tucker. "Tucker, you're turning the whole school upside-down. How 'bout giving it a break?" Tucker took over with the change to teal as he countered and pointed at nothing.

"How about getting off my back and letting me have a little fun?" Their banter continued, though Danny did notice another voice screeching.

_'Oh dio mio, que esta pasando!?'_

"Because your fun is kind of mean." Danny answered with green eyes and gestured with a thumb over the shoulder. "Now get out of Paulina!" Tucker took over with teal.

"I was here first. You go."

_'Por que hay voces que me controlan?'_

Danny pushed the issue while there is a notion that Paulina could be trying to figure out why there were two voices controlling her. "No, you!"

"You!" Tucker yelped back as he let slip where he believed the power came from as he gestured to himself in Paulina's body. "Babazita's genie gave me these powers, and I'll use them how I want." Danny phased out and floated in the air as he spoke to only Tucker's eyes.

"Then maybe I need to have a chat with this Babazita." He flew off to get Cedric to help him in addressing the issue as Tucker called out.

"Fine! But you and I..." He even cupped a hand to Paulina's mouth to make it apparent. "...Aren't friends anymore, Danny Fenton!" Paulina glowed green before Tucker left her body and leaving her to shout at nothing at all as Tucker narrated once more as he shared the story of what Danny and Cedric found.

'It was our first argument, and we were having it over a girl. Well, in one, actually. But, you get the point.' Cedric and Danny checked in with Babazita at the swap meet and she explained the story behind the spirit that once inhabited the bottle smashed. '_That_ was my mistake, reminding Danny where the ghost came from.' Tucker nodded as he got a second-hand experience from Danny and Cedric on what they discovered after the whole mess, surprised that it actually started out as not a spirit, but as human. 'Apparently, Desiree was a harem girl who had been promised her heart's desire: her own kingdom, only to be banished by the sultan's jealous wife.' That was not the end of the story as Desiree did die of broken heart and old age, but that is where the next part played, the ghost half. 'After that, her spirit roamed, granting people's deepest desires, but at a great personal cost.' It faded back to Babazita who shrugged about the whole thing as Tucker finished with the small entry. 'Hey, who knew?' Tucker continued the entry as Danny and Cedric, now understanding the basic gust of the ghost, took to a fountain in the park as Danny sniffled a bit.

"If you're trying to snag a wishing ghost, what better place than a wishing well?" Danny rifled through his pocket before pulling out a quarter, flipping it into the water, but nothing happened as he huffed. "Dang it." He sneezed as Cedric hummed before he spoke, pulling out his own quarter.

"It was because you didn't make a actual wish, you just hoped it would work." He breathed before he flipped the coin, it soaring high before coming back down, in the split second of it passing his face, Cedric made the wish. "I wish to meet the soul trapped in wishes on exchange of her hope and trust." With a plop, the coin vanished under the water, but it had the effect as a green mist surged and swirled about Cedric as the voice called out with its siren sound.

"So it is desired, so shall it be." Danny stood ready, but knew that Cedric had it covered as the mist started to form and complete into the harem-adorned ghost known as Desiree as her single uncovered eye of red opened and peered upon Cedric. "You called me here, you who has chased me for answers and strength, why do you seek to address me now?"

"Because I need to know the answer to Tucker's newfound ghost powers, can you remove them from him?"

"I cannot." Desiree answered as she explained why and the reason. "By noon tomorrow, your friend's fate will be sealed." She laughed with an evil tone and pressed on. "His jealousy will transform him forever into the most powerful ghost boy in the world!" She laughed once more as Danny exclaimed.

"Tuck? He's not that jealous. Is he?"

"More than you know. Tomorrow his jealousy and frustration will cement into rage and rebellion. He will be complete." Before Desiree could fly off, Cedric spoke once more.

"Desiree, I wish you would stay and speak with me before entering this Thermos, only coming out by my own hand." Cedric spoke as he continued with Thermos in hand. "With this request in wish, I inquire you answer to Danny the way that can save Tucker from his timely change." She gasped as she called out.

"What?" She seemed to struggle as she bellowed. "Nooo! I must obey." With that, she flopped onto the stone of the fountain as she grimaced to her new place. "You dare to bind me, what is your intention, to handle me!?" She hissed as she continued. "No man may lay a hand on me unless I wish it!"

"Then through this wish, do not let a single man other than me give you the care that you desperately need for the longest time." Cedric answered as his wish worked to Desiree's surprise. "Let this wish between you and I be a vow to preserve the other through thick and thin until I make the final wish tomorrow to not only free you, but also give you a new life to bear to the next." She seemed to screech in mute sound before Cedric turned. "Get going, Tucker is not going to be okay by the end."

"But how?" Desiree had the answer as she glanced up.

"Take the boy and split him in half, by the essence caught in ancient dreams." Danny paused before he gasped.

"The Ghost Catcher!" Desiree grudgingly nodded as Danny mused. "Now to find Tuck." He flew off to find Tucker, but the boy was difficult to find before the following day as he mused to the coming noon with a grimace. "Quarter to noon, and no sign of Tucker." His ghost sense went off and he stopped before taking in the room that he stopped at. "Should've guessed." It read 'School Records' as he phase through the door and found Tucker exactly there, changing his grades to 'A' as he exclaimed. "Tucker, you're changing your grades?! That's cheating!" Tucker commented with the turn of the seat.

"I like to think of it as 'academic enrichment'. Want me to do yours?"

"No way. Tucker, you're in real danger." He reached out, but Tucker leaned back and growled as his body changed in turn, green skin with glowing reds, fangs, and claws as Danny spoke up with held up hands. "Take it easy. We're friends, remember?"

Tucker growled as he gestured to himself on the new law that he put down. "We're only friends on your terms. But now _I_ make the rules around here. And my first rule is, 'No more Danny Phantom'." He took in a breath before blasting Danny with it, launching him into the science room and destroying the blackboard as Danny commented to the increased strength.

"He's getting more malevolent. More ghost-like." He pleaded for Tucker to see reason as the changed boy entered. "Tuck, please! You have to listen to me. There isn't much time!"

"You got that right." Tucker yelled as he charged several ecto-blasts. "Your time is up." He blasted as Danny soared above before flipping the cap off, Tucker getting angry when he couldn't hit Danny with a punch and missed him completely as Phantom rushed behind a counter and avoided more ecto-blasts. He stopping to pick up his hat before turning intangible to the hurled skeleton before he shouted. "Ha! Is that the best you can do?" Danny ducked back down in avoidance of more ecto-blasts as he mused for anything to give him a chance in the short time.

"Unfortunately, yes. I can't get through to him!" He paused at an idea and smiled as it would be so Tucker. "But I know what can." He jumped out and insulted Tucker. "Catch me if you can, _Sucker_ Phantom!" He grinned with a wave as he phased through the floors to Tucker's angered exclaim.

"That's _Tucker_ Phantom! _Tucker_!" Going through the floor, Danny lead Tucker into the girl's locker room, stalling him for a moment before Danny blinded him with a bra and slam dunked him into the gym's basketball hoop before checking the time.

"Only five minutes left." He called out to egg Tucker even further. "Ha! You got _no_ game!" Tucker glared and stood up before turning into a more monstrous, taller form of the ghostly Tucker, Danny grimacing, but he still played against Tucker as he lead the beast out of the school and outside as Tucker followed before Danny vanished and he came to a halt as he shouted.

"Where are you? Where?!" The ghost sense went off and he turned to Danny behind him, looking all-knowing as he spoke.

"What's the matter? Can't catch what you can't see?" Tucker lunged for empty air as Danny disappeared before Danny continued his flight, straight to Fenton Works as he grimaced to the loss of his pursuer.

"Where is he? He _has_ to have followed me." He glanced behind him as he questioned. "It's almost noon!" He stopped when Tucker appeared in front of him and he grimaced to the single word then the roar.

"Yo. What's the dizzle, fizzle?" He grabbed Danny and pushed him down through Fenton Works as Danny 'pleaded' to Tucker.

"No! Don't throw me into the Ghost Zone. Please!"

"I wasn't going to, but that is a _great_ idea!" They phased right down to the lab, Tucker's back to the Ghost Catcher as the lab clock said that Danny had ten seconds left as he groaned.

"I'm only gonna have one shot at this." He charged his ecto-blasts for the survival of his best friend as both turned tangible, but he couldn't get out of the grip, or so he believed as he stopped and sneezed, Tucker releasing from the accident before he scolded a bit in disbelief.

"Hey, cover your mouth!" Danny, getting the chance, blasted Tucker backward, he slipping through the Ghost Catcher and splitting Tucker and his malevolent ghost in half as Tucker stirred and gasped to the beast that floated above him in pale blue. "Is... Is that me?" He pointed at as the monster roared at him, causing him to cower before the thing looked back to Danny sucking the ghost into the Thermos with a sniffle.

"No, it's not you, Tuck. Not anymore." Tucker got up and spoke to his best friend as the thermos was capped.

"Oh, man, Danny. I'm sorry. I-I couldn't control myself."

"Dude, don't worry about it." Danny sniffled as he continued to assure Tucker. "You were under the genie's spell, and you broke it."

"Yeah, but none of that would've happened if I wasn't jealous."

"Or if I had been a little less of a show-off around you." He extended his hand in thanks. "Friends?"

"The best." Tucker shook the hand before they let go and headed out as Jack and Maddie looked out to find nothing, shrugged to the other and headed back into the tent, no closer to 'purging' themselves from the 'viral ghost energy' they caught.

'...And that is how it all went down, I'll admit, it was fun having ghost powers, though I should have been more understanding about the dual-edged wish thing, turned out Desiree, after so many years of loneliness and her own joy traded away, she grew bitter and more spiteful for anyone not making a wish for her own benefit...' Tucker typed and finished with a smile before he frown and breathed before sneezing and grimacing. "Ugh, don't tell me..." As fortune had it, he got it, he got the same cold that Sam got...

* * *

'Tucker Foley, digital journal, Saturday. They say, 'Be careful what you wish for.' To that, I'd like to add a big, fat 'Duh'!' Tucker typed a new entry as he was looking terrible, pillow behind his head with thermometer in his mouth as he typed in on his PDA with a stylus.

'Especially when it comes to best friends.' As it turned out, when Danny had sneezed into Tucker's face, he infected him with the same cold and now the both of them were sick, Danny sitting beside him with a ice pack atop his own head and wrapped up like Tucker in the Foley household before Tucker smiled to Danny for being a good friend.

''Cause I couldn't wish for a better one.' Both sneezed at the same time as Sam walked in, with two bowls of hot soup on a tray as she exclaimed.

"Jeez, do you guys have to share everything?" Danny smiled as he remarked.

"You don't know the half of it." Both smiled to the other as they were treated, Cedric shaking his head and advising for them to just rest while a lovely young woman had joined him by his side, her flowing, long black falling to her back with one eye covered, a sapphire blue eye gazing at them as she and him had medical masks on and tended to the pair of sick boys...


	7. S1 - Bitter Reunions

The streets of Amity were quiet as Danny Fenton was making his way home as he breathed on his electric scooter. "Finally. One day where I get home on time without any ghost detours making me miss my ten o'clock curfew." He looked his watch to see that he was still three minutes good before his ghost sense went off and he stopped as three vulture ghosts flew overhead and seemed to be searching for something as Danny huffed. "Or not. Going ghost!" He drove behind a car and turned into his ghostly half of Danny Phantom before flying alongside the vultures to find out what was going on. "You fellas look lost. Um, any chance of you staying that way for a bit?"

"Mind your own business, fancy pants ghost boy." The first vulture answered as they swooped down and phased into a moving bus, Danny following as he listened to the birds bicker in the seats.

"Hey, we've been circling this town for hours. We could have been halfway to Florida by now. Ask for directions." The second one spoke as the first was firm to just solo it.

"I know where I'm going!"

"You so do not!" The third answered as he pointed at Danny. "Ask him."

"Ask me what?" The vultures took flight again and Danny followed them into the air as they stared off before the first sighed and came closer.

"We're on a search-and-destroy mission. Can you help us find and peck to death this guy here?" He pulled out a piece of a photo, but it was the younger looking man that caught Danny's attention as he exclaimed.

"Dad?"

"Ah-ha, see? I told you he'd know where he is." Danny quickly answered as he made the mark for 'time-out', rather talk it out now than before when he was just going headstrong and not getting aid from Cedric.

"Whoa, back up, time out." Danny answered as he spoke. "My dad is a big goof, no offence to him, but he has done nothing really wrong to anyone, not to ghosts despite his research and not anyone that I know of that's human." The vultures looked confused as Danny continued. "Now, if you would just explain it out, I am sure that I can understand, but if this is a fight, I need to know, okay?"

"None of your business, fanc-"

"He's asking nicely, bonehead!" The second socked the first in the back of the head as he flew over. "Jack Fenton is, yes, our target and we need to peck him to death and all that stuff, but he is of the greater value to our employer, Plasmius."

"Plasmius? Like a take on 'plasma'?"

"Kid gets it." The third voiced as the trio landed on a roof top and hopped over to Danny as he continued. "Yes, and Plasmius really has it in his head that he was wronged by the big hippo years ago, twenty to be more exact, and has it in his head to just cut the bud and move on." Danny nodded as he spoke.

"Well, I think I want to learn more about Plasmius and I think the only way I can is to go where Dad is connected, so no 'search-and-destroy' tonight, sorry." The vultures groaned in displeasure, but still took flight as the first spoke.

"Alright, alright, we get it and we'll tell the employer, no need for trouble, but we do expect you there in the very least, so you can tell Plasmius yourself." Danny nodded before the vultures took off and Danny waited before he hummed. He picked up the piece that dropped off the vultures and really questioned it.

"I really wonder why those guys were trying to waste Dad." A chime rang out and he glanced to the town clock in grimace. "Oh, no. Dad." He headed back home and peered through the crack to find his parents waiting and very unhappy.

"You're late again, young man." Jack scolded his son as Danny breathed.

"Oh, joy. This is going to be fun..." He headed in and closed the door, his time in punishment going to be a problem...

* * *

Danny was seated down and looking sullen as Maddie lectured him while Jazz was reading a book while Jack was working on a new invention as Maddie started. "Danny, this is becoming a problem. You're constantly late coming home..."

"You're shirking from your chores..."

"Your grades are slipping..."

"You're shirking from your chores..." Danny raised a brow as he could answer the grades and stuff if he came out and he could tell that Jack knew the same thing, but Maddie and Jazz were not so as he questioned why Jack needed to point out 'the chores'.

"You already said chores."

"I know, but when you don't do 'em, I get stuck with them."

"Look, I'm under a lot of pressure than before. You two have no idea what it's like to be a kid today or nowadays!" Jack looked with a nod, but Maddie was still in lecture as she spoke.

"Come on, Danny. That's the oldest excuse in the book." Danny sat back down and rested his elbow as he listened._ "_There's nothing you're going through that your father and I didn't go through when we were your age." Danny panicked as his arm phased through and he pulled it back up, Jack noticing and zipping his mouth as Danny nodded and deferred to the 'different' card.

"Yeah? Well, I beg to differ."

Jazz closed the book and looked up as she explained it out to both of them. "The reason Danny doesn't think you can relate to him is that you never take the time to tell him about your childhood!"

"Jazz!" Danny whine with annoyance before she just continued.

"Have you ever told him how you met? About your first date?" Jack walked out from behind the machine and pondered it with Maddie as Danny yelped again.

"Jazz!"

"Where you went to college?"

"You know, Jasmine, that's a great idea!" Danny looked a bit skeptic as Jazz spoke up with Maddie.

"It is?"

"What is?"

"This is!" Jack held out a invitation to a college reunion for the students of UW or the University of Wisconsin as Jack pulled Maddie close and explained. "You can come with your mother and I to our college reunion."

"I... can?" There was a strange feeling in his gut that told him that he was going to find out about the employer there as Jazz seemed to screech.

"Wisconsin?!"

"Sure! My old pal Vlad is throwing a huge shindig there. We'll take the RV so the whole family can go together." Jack leaned in with the next sentence as he just beamed. "You can learn more about your mother's and my college days, and while we drive, _I_ can blather on about ghosts!" The invention that Jack was working on activated and sploshed Jazz with ecto goop as Jack cheered despite the angry glare under it. "Haha!" He pumped his arms in victory. "It works! I can't wait to blather on about that, too." With a pick up for a road trip, the Fentons headed out of town, Cedric assuring Danny that the four friends could handle any mess that could happen, Danny still unsure of the fourth member that Cedric was now accompanied by, but she has been both faithful to the cause and quite able as she seemed to be able to manifest a vicious kind of heat wave and aura on any that threaten her or the others. The Fentons were off as Jazz grumbled.

"How does this happen? _You_ goof up, and _I_ have to spend four days jammed in the Fenton Ghost RV?" Danny breathed as he should have guessed that Jazz wanted to be FAR from the paranormal stuff of her family as Jack spoke up about the vehicle while Maddie read a map.

"That's the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle, folks. Every button in this baby is a ghost's worst nightmare." Danny groaned as it was slightly suffocating in the GAV.

"Ugh. I need some air." He presses a button before Jazz could exclaim.

"Don't press any buttons!" But it was a moment too late as several weapons popped out and activated, blasting a chuck off a tree, freezing a bird in midair and still intact, another charred a man on his phone which was amusing as he had of punishing a talking driver, but that took the cake before the last blasted green goo over Jazz and she glimmered. "I'll get you for this." Danny shrugged as the road trip was not so tiring, but it could still use some work as they stopped by a truck stop for a rest as Jack called out to the family in sleeping bags

"Get some rest, everybody! I want the entire Fenton clan bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when we meet Masters tomorrow." That caught Jazz's attention as she clarified with a hand held up and lowered.

"Wait, wait, wait. Masters? As in _Vlad_ Masters? Who was named _Affluence Magazine's_ 'Billionaire of the Year'?"

"That's the guy! In college, he was my best friend." He pulled out an old scrap book and flipped through the pages before coming on a pair of smiling goofs and the whole cast of bullying as he spoke. "We were very popular guys. Roommates, lab partners, we did everything together. Until the thick fingers of fate stuck themselves right in Vlad's eyes." He reflected on the day that changed it all before Jack turned to Maddie. "I'm sorry, Maddie, but when you said that the calculations were not right, I didn't realize what I had done wrong and that cost both of us our friend." He breathed as he recalled the portal activating and Vlad getting a face of proto-plasma, crippling him with a bad case of ecto-ache and glowing blue eyes as he shook his head. "He was hospitalized with a horrible case of ecto-acne. It devastated him... and killed his social life." He breathed as he continued with some remorse. "We haven't spoken since that day. But I hope that we can reconnect and I am able to tell him that I am sorry and hopefully find out where I had gone wrong." Danny looked unsure as they fell asleep, Danny a bit awake still before he dozed off as well. Come the following day, the GAV parked outside the great mansion as the Fentons unloaded and headed up and met the well-dressed, very imposing looking man known as Vlad Masters.

"Jack... and Maddie! You've never looked lovelier, my dear." Without pause, he ushered the trio of Jazz, Danny, and Maddie inside. "Please, please, come in." They headed in while Jack cleared his throat and spoke.

"Vladdie, my man! It's good to-" The door slammed in his face before he breathed and called out. "Hello? Hello?!" The calls were unheard for the moment as the trio took in the green-and-gold of the entrance hall and clear shows of football memorabilia before Jazz spoke.

"What's with the green and gold? You're a billionaire! Surely you could afford an interior designer."

"Jazz, hello? Football helmets, jerseys, cheeseheads? He's a Packers fanatic." Danny paused before continuing to Jack's call. "Would fanatic be a good word or a bit over the top?"

"Oh, 'fanatic' is such a negative word and a bit." Vlad smiled as he rested a hand on Danny's shoulder before lifting it again. "But, yes."

"I don't understand. You have _billions_ of dollars! Instead of buying this stuff, why don't you just buy the team?" To this, Vlad replied with irritation.

"Because the Packers are owned by the city of Green Bay and they won't sell them to me!" He breathed before looking to Maddie. "One of _two_ things my wealth has not as of yet..." He chuckled to the notion. "...been able to acquire." Maddie smiled innocently back as Danny spoke to Jazz in ponder.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but is he hitting on Mom?"

"As long as he's got working toilets, and Mom says no, who cares?" She walked off as Danny spoke.

"I care..." He looked down as Maddie grew uneasy under Vlad's gaze before she spoke.

"I'd, uh... better let Jack in." Maddie walked over to the door as Danny looked up, his eyes widening as he took in a autographed football.

"Whoa, cool!"

"Indeed." Vlad answered as he lifted the ball up and showed it to Danny. "This ball was autographed by the legendary Ray Nitschke himself." He hugged it to his face as he finished. "It's my prized possession."

"Hey V-Man!" Vlad turned to Jack coming over as he commented. "I see you DO have the autographed football of Ray Nitschke, what a guy. I done nearly tackled you over it, but I will settle for something more friendly." He snatched Vlad up in a hug as Vlad gasped in the bear trap.

"Jack, what are you doing, put me... down, this is killing me!"

"Sorry, V-Man." Vlad breathed as he cast a curious gaze to Jack as the big guy rubbed his neck. "I just wanted to say sorry for all those years we have been apart, I dearly wanted to still be your friend and you mine, but I didn't want to intrude on your new life, I thought you never wanted to see me again after college, I mucked it up so badly for us." Vlad looked surprised as he voiced.

"Jack Fenton, loud and apparent, apologizing for something that deeply affected me and didn't know how to talk to me after these long years?"

"And paid for your medical bill, if I can add to it."

"Oh... well..." Vlad looked at a loss as he rubbed his neck before he cleared his throat and spoke, putting the ball on its pedestal. "Yes. Well, it gave me time to chart out a course for my life, didn't it? Make some decisions that helped to make me very wealthy, very quickly. And it never would have happened without you, Jack." He could have smiled creepily, but he just gave a genuine smile.

"Maybe we should go, we'd hate to intrude." Maddie spoke as Vlad dismissed it as he explained.

"No, no, you should stay with me!" He voiced as he wrapped an arm around Jack. "That's the whole reason I'm throwing the reunion here in my castle - previously home to the legendary Wisconsin Dairy King." A short, chunky type of guy was pictured high up with a cheese hat and ice cream cane as Vlad continued. "Just so I could... reconnect with you, Jack. I insist you stay."

"Well, I don't know. We do have a really cool RV." Jazz coughed out an answer as she wanted nothing to do with that deathtrap.

"Let's stay here!"

"Smooth." Danny answered as he swept a hand through the air before Vlad moved on a surefire way to get Jack in.

"You know, Jack, the Dairy King's ghost could haunt these very halls..." Jack hummed before he answered, surprising Vlad again.

"Well, that's a bonus, but I really want to reconnect with you more..." He hummed before he spoke. "You know what, I think I will get the bags, your place is very nice and it will let the kids learn more about their uncle." To this, the trio of Jazz, Danny, and Vlad yelped.

"Vlad Masters!?"

"Uncle!?"

"UNCLE!?"

"Yeah, you were suppose to be the godfather of the Fenton kids, Maddie and I agreed, didn't you get the letter when both Jazz and Danny were born?"

"Jack... I'm... shocked..." Vlad stammered as Jack clapped a hand on Vlad's back.

"It's okay, V-Man, you had better things to do..." Jack headed out, Vlad very lost before he headed off, the clan formed to collect their things and it was clear to all that Jack was really showing a more tender side, he giving remorse over Vlad and he didn't show that Fenton spunk that he usually carried. Vlad shared the same as he was really lost, both to the status as a 'godfather uncle' and how Jack was reacting. Night fell and all was quiet before Jack sprung up. "Bathroom." He headed off, unaware of the vultures that came to stalk him with claws extended, but one did noticed as Danny's ghost sense went off as he woke up and grimaced.

"Oh, great. Just what I need: a working vacation." He transformed and took flight out of the room before spotting the threat, the vultures about to attack Jack before he slipped through the flooring and grabbed Jack, pulling him under the floor as the first vulture spoke.

"Hey, what gives?" He pulled Jack to the restroom and flew out of there before contending with the vultures as he phased behind them and spoke.

"Hi, guys!" He punched a fist into his palm to make a statement. "Remember me?" They turned and freaked out before scattering as Danny questioned in ponder. "Okay. That was actually _too_ easy."

"Ah, bright boy." Danny turned to find a new ghost, flaring black and grey hair in the shape of horns, fangs protruding out from the mouth, in a white suit and red cape and clearly looking sinister as Danny flinched to the smug grin.

"Okay, that is scary as it is, Nosferatu." Danny pointed out as the new ghost mused.

"Oh please, I am not a vampire, boy, I am master of this castle."

"Okay, Dracula or would you prefer Plasmius?"

"If you know who I am, then it would seem that my vultures were not lying and you have come here as well with the big oaf. Danny Phantom, right?" This surprised Danny as he spoke.

"You... you know of me?"

"Of course I know you!" Plasmius phased through several rooms with Danny following to a private library as the ghost scolded him with a point of the finger. "You're the ghost boy who uses his powers for _good_. How quaint." He then got up in Danny's face and around him as he mused. "Aren't you going to try to shove me into your ridiculous thermos?"

"Okay, one; I don't have the Thermos on me, there isn't a portal close by that I can send any ghosts back to the zone." Danny answered with some distance. "Two; why should you care about how I use these powers, I found a reason for them and sticking with it." He raised the third finger as he spoke. "Last; I came here to find out why and stop you from getting the kill."

"No. No you can't." Plasmius blasted Danny and Danny countered with an attempt.

"Get away!" The mastermind blocked the blast with a ecto-shield as he mocked a bit with smug-crossed arms.

"Ah, an ectoplasmic energy blast." Danny blasted a few more as the ghost just casually moved the shield with a yawn. "So... year one." The shield disappeared and Danny breathed as he glanced up to the ghost. "Tell me, child, can you do _this_ yet?" Without pause, the ghost multiplied himself and Danny backed up, surprised with the skill and ability he was facing.

"No, I can't, I've only had months! How are _you_ doing all this?"

"Years of practice, which you, unfortunately, have no time for." The four spoke as each blasted Danny, he dodging low and slipped through before punching one and smiling as it disappeared, an extension of Plasmius' power as he tried for another, but ended up getting the snot beaten out of him as he was flung out into the hall, the beat down blacking his sight as Plasmius surged out, surprised when Danny reverted back "The ghost boy... is Jack's son?" The ghost emitted a black ring around him, similar to the white one of Danny's and it traveled to reveal a suit and white hair as the man who was amused by the change, grimaced with hand to chin.

"And I just beat him up for just being himself and wanting to at least give Jack a chance... Oh, this will not be fun..."

* * *

Danny stirred before he yelped. "No! Get away!" He sprung up and caught his breath before he pondered. "Huh? Where am I? What happened?" He was back in bed as he crossed his arms, trying to figure it out. "The last thing I remember was..."

"I was going to ask you the same question, young man." Vlad entered the room as Danny stammered with a reasonable explanation.

"I... must've been worn out from the long car trip and letting my mind wander on how this castle feels rather more vampire-like at night." He shook his head as he spoke. "I-I'll be okay in the morning. I'm sorry for the scare."

"Oh, what's a little scare between friends, my boy, hmm?" Vlad voiced as he headed out. "Sleep tight, little badger." Danny breathed as he fell back to sleep as Vlad closed the door and lightly grinned. "Indeed, sleep tight." He silently hummed a bit before heading out. The following day was greatly interesting as Jack was on an all-time roll with bonding with Vlad and asking him about his many businesses while also explaining that, while ghost hunting has been rather weak nowadays, the research is more the energy and power of ghosts could change the world in the right ways, but it hadn't developed too deeply to make a real difference as they had a pleasant time before night fell again and guests started to arrive as Danny searched the rooms for Jazz before finding her in the screening room as he spoke.

"Jazz, aren't you coming to the reunion?"

"What? And watch a bunch of old fossils pogo to new wave music? Pass." Jazz answered before she commented. "Did you know the Packers won the very first Super Bowl?"

"Sounds fair." Danny answered as he left the room behind before accompanying Jack and Maddie to the main party before Jack spotted an old acquaintance.

"Hey, Harry!" The woman spat out her food as she grimaced.

"Ugh. I'd know that voice anywhere." She turned and headed over to the trio as she spoke. "Jack. Maddie. How nice."

"Danny, meet Harriet Chin. She's a big-shot reporter for the _Milwaukee Journal _now, but back in my college days she was just Harry. Harry Chin!" He laughed with a grab of his head as he continued. "Get it?!"

"I'm really sorry, Harriet." Maddie apologized to Harriet as the reporter pointed out.

"Sweetie, you married him. You should be." New wave music played and Jack exclaimed.

"Hey, my song! Come on, let's pogo!" Dragging Maddie behind, Jack started to pogo to the floor and running over several people with his sheer mass before Danny spoke.

"Okay, I'm both officially mortified and glad to not be his size right now."

"What took so long?" Danny shrugged as he found a seat by the window and watched as several people pogo along with the sound before he felt a hand rest on his shoulder and Vlad Masters spoke to him.

"Well, son, you're looking much better. I was wondering... if you could do me a _huge_ favor."

"Oh, sure, Mr. Masters. But call me Danny. 'Son's' what my dad calls me or you could use 'nephew'."

"Oh, yes, yes, of course. Now, could you go to my lab, second door on the right upstairs? There's a present in there for your father that I'd like you to bring down." Vlad chuckled as Danny agreed with standing up.

"Sure thing!" Danny headed off as Vlad just smirked before he glanced to the center of the room and focused on Maddie before he slightly growled.

"Maddie... That lab accident cost me my youthful chance at you, but that's all about to change... in a way, dear..." Danny followed the direction to the lab, surprising that Vlad would have a lab as he looked around for the present, but couldn't find it.

"Present? I don't see a present." He paused and picked up a framed picture of what was Vlad and Maddie, but a piece of it was missing from the upper right and there seemed to be... He trailed off with an exclaim as he reached into his suit for something that was connected. "Hey! Wait a minute." Pulling out the piece of photo, Danny lined it up and found it was the perfect match for the picture before he stumbled back, dropping the picture on the table with the piece he had. "Oh, no. No way." His sense went off and he transformed into Phantom, looking around on the defense before getting snatched up by the same two ectopuses that he kicked into the Ghost Zone before the Lunch Lady. "Let go!" Danny shouted as he kicked one away before slamming the other into the flooring and breathed as he recognized the pair of terrors. "Those ghosts... They were two of the first ghosts I fought!"

"And they're not alone, pup." Danny turned just as a net came flying at him and trapping him with a shock before a figure emerged from the door frame of another room, its mechanical face a grin with flaming green hair as Danny yelped.

"Skulker?!" Phantom broke free and knocked Skulker into several large tanks with a kick as he exclaimed. "How did you rebuild your ecto-skeleton so fast? What are you doing here?"

"All excellent questions. Catch!" A box rolled toward Danny before trapping him by expanding into a large glowing box, his head the only thing remaining outside the box as Danny exclaimed.

"Huh? Hey! I can't phase out of this. It's disrupting my powers!"

"And that's not all it does." The box zapped Danny on Skulker's command and he reverted back to human and slammed his head in a daze before Skulker lifted his head up and from his wrist extended a glowing blade that Danny didn't want a single point to touch as he commented on the new addition with a nervous chuckle.

"Uh, the glowing blade is a new tool."

"You like it? I've had some upgrades!" Skulker answered casually before reverting back to an evil glint. "Now..."

"Enough!" Both looked to the lab entrance as Vlad Masters entered and scolded Skulker. "I didn't free you to kill the boy, Skulker! Your work is done." Both looked at the other in confusion before the blade retracted and Skulker started.

"Yes, well, I..." He paused to read from the PDA attached to his arm and beeping. "I've gotta go to the library and check out a book on a gorilla. Again!" He huffed as his jet-pack activated and he lifted off through the ceiling as Danny questioned and mused.

"Skulker rebuilt, but still bound to the schedule? The ectopuses? I don't understand, Vlad!"

"Of course not. You're, what, fourteen?" Vlad answered as he walked around the box and continued to speak. "Too young to drive and not in college yet? I sent those ghosts, and others, to test your father's skills. Imagine my surprise when I find _you_, the _second_ ghost hybrid his foolishness created."

"_Second_? You don't mean...!" Vlad need not a word as black rings formed around his form before splitting, turning him into the vampire-like ghost that beat him down last night. "You! I'm going ghost!" Nothing happened before Danny spoke. "Sorry, you just... surprised me with that and... yes, I have a battle cry." He frowned before Vlad patted his head and spoke.

"You are just fine, young Daniel, and I do want to apologize for how I treated you last night, I thought you didn't have a real case at my home." He cleared his throat before he spoke again, patting the box. "However, this is a spectral energy neutralizer, designed by Skulker and paid for by me, so as long as you or I are inside that box, neither of us could use our powers, we would be just as human as your brilliant, but dull father.

"If that is so, then why leave me in here?"

"Why? So you can go back to stumbling through your adolescence, desperately trying to get control of your powers? Powers, by the way, that I've had for twenty years." He breathed as he showcased a ghost shield, duplication and even invisibility as he lectured. "I have experience, my child. And the money and power attained through using those powers for personal gain, you see." He pressed on as he divided into three and returned to one. "I could train you, teach you everything I know. And all you'd have to do, is renounce your own father." Before Danny could speak, Vlad continued with a roll of the hand. "Or so my 'evil and fiendish' scheme to ruin Jack Fenton was going to be, but after looking through so many papers and documents, I am truly shocked that my bumbling fool of a friend actually did want me in his life, I checked the bills that should have trapped me in a hospital and I found the name Fenton at the front of all of it, I even found a formal invitation, TWO no less, to be the godfather of both you, Daniel James Fenton, and Jasmine Trish Fenton. That is such a gesture that I am at a loss for words." Vlad folded his hands behind his back as he spoke. "So, this is what I will do instead, I always wanted to wreck my own party and I will do it through your father, I will be waiting for you to join me and stop me." He laughed and teleport as Danny paused before he smirked.

"You are one crazed-up fruit loop, but I guess I can relate, some of those parties I JUST want to wreck." He started to try and get out of the box while, down in the party, Jack was looking so bored as Harriet just told her latest story.

"Then I covered the guerrilla uprising in Rumackistan, got an exclusive with the rebel leader that got raves-" Jack's chin slumped into the drink in hand before Harriet noticed and she mused in annoyance. "Am I boring you, Jack?"

"Frankly, yes. I'm just an action kind of guy, not too deep with the news." Jack answered before a second presence made itself apparent as it overshadowed Jack and turned his eyes red as he spoke in a different type of voice.

"So, what do you say we liven up this shindig?" Without pause, Jack picked up Harriet and tossed her, causing her to crash into the punch bowl table as Maddie rushed over with exclaim.

"Jack, what's the matter with you?!"

The possessed man turned as he lectured. "Why Maddie, didn't you always know I'd turn on you? That when you chose me. you chose wrong?" He reached out his hands in rage before they shook and clasped closer to his body as Jack slipped through.

"Get out. Get out of me!" Harriet stomped over to Jack as he tried to struggle for control over his own body while inward, Vlad mused.

'This will be a fun time indeed.'

_'Great Scott! How are you in my body, Vladdie!?'_ Vlad paused before he spoke again.

'Jack, you know who is overshadowing you?'

_'Danny needed to back when he had to contend with a dragon ghost, I don't know the full story, but it does seem like Cedric, a late friend of Danny's, believed that I somehow can interact with anyone overshadowing me for some reason, I heard in passing that 'something something bloodline of spectral protection and something altered overshadow'. Really, I don't know what to tell you, this is all new for me.'_

'Well, my large and powerful friend...' Vlad grinned as he spoke once more. 'I'm to wreck my own party and I want you to play along, young Daniel will be along soon.' Harriet shouted with a threat.

"I don't know _what's_ come over you, but when I write about this I swear-"

"Ghost... overpowering me." Jack voiced as he gripped Maddie, playing along to the plan of Vlad as he whispered before it erupted. "Maddie, run. RUN!" He flew into the air and the sheer action scared all of the party goers into panic as Vlad took over fully.

"He's a ghost? This is the story of the century!"

"Come on!" Maddie shouted as she dragged Chin away from the scene for protection. "We have to get to the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle! I mean, the RV!" Back in the lab, Danny still struggled to escape as he breathed.

"Whoa, this is quite the complex trap, I could use some aid here, but..."

"Well, gosh and golly, it looks like you could use a speck of help there, dontcha know?" Danny glanced up to see a ghostly Dairy King float on down as he exclaimed.

"Hey, you're the Dairy King!" He grew worried as he inquired. "Oh, great. What are you gonna do? Suffocate me with Limburger? Strangle me with Swiss?! Or-" The Dairy King just laughed as he used the scepter to press the 'Open' button on the box's side, shrinking it back down and freeing Danny as he spoke.

"Let me go?" He kicked the box up and placed it on the table before he turned back to the Dairy King. "Well, thank you! But, why?"

"Well, not all ghosts are evil, right? Some of us just want to be left alone there, dontcha know?"

"I hear that. Hey, will you help me fight Plasmius?"

"I'm the Dairy King, kiddo. Kings don't fight. They send other people to fight for 'em. That's Royalty 101 there, dontcha know?" Danny rolled his eyes with a smirk as the King phased through the ceiling with a call. "Try the Gouda! It's dairy fresh!" His smile remained before Maddie's voice echoed.

"Jack!"

"Dad!" Going ghost, he headed down to the party as he heard the roar of a familiar engine tear through, knowing that Maddie had gotten the GAV into the manor, surprisingly as he bolted down to knock Vlad out of Jack as he called out, the party a real mess with tables thrown, flying about the place, and scaring people in general.

"If you live to tell the tale, remember that big, fat Jack Fenton did this to you!" He shouted after hitting a man before Danny came in.

"Guess again, cheesehead." Danny soared and slammed Vlad out of Jack, screaming as both heard Jack shout about being used a 'human meat puppet' before they entered the battleground of their last battle and Danny tried to fight to Vlad countering as he spoke.

"Daniel, stop. Think about the things I could show you, the doors I could open for you. You, Danny Phantom, and I, Vlad Plasmius. Together, we could rule."

"Forget it, uncle. Your money can't buy my mom, it can't buy the Packers, and it can't buy me. I need to find my own path!" He fired an ecto-blast, only for Vlad to catch it and fire it back as he projected a dome and spoke, the blast being blocked by the green dome. "I'll admit that I don't want to say this, but I know who you are. I'll tell my father. I'll tell _everyone_."

"And so will I. Honestly, if you expose me, you expose yourself."

"Sounds fair enough, uncle, we need our secrets under lock and key, but still..." Suddenly a honking came and Danny turned with a 'huh' just as the GAV crashed through the wall and tried to run the pair over, both bolting out of the way as Vlad landed on the roof of the vehicle.

"Mind if I cut in?" He went intangible and grabbed Maddie from the middle seat and pulled her out as she shouted.

"Let go of me!" Both turned tangible as Vlad played the 'villain' rather well.

"Never again, woman." Danny looked up as Jack jumped out of the GAV and chased after Vlad with a shout before he got into the GAV and grimaced to the controls.

"Oh, great. It's a stick." He shifted the gear shift to the proper place as he disregarded Harriet's amaze before gunning it toward Jack.

"Jack, look out! The RV!" Maddie called out to Jack while dangling by one foot in the air. Jack peered to the side before jumping out of the way as Danny apologized.

"Sorry, dad. I've got one shot at this." He swerved it to a stop nearly below Vlad and his captive before he activated the weapon system and aimed. The 'energy blast' was knocked to the side, the 'lightning' was let to pass through Vlad, but the 'ectoplasmic goo' worked as it splashed him and knocked him down, releasing Maddie, but Danny quickly overshadowed Jack to save her as Maddie cheered.

"Jack! You did it!"

"It was nothing, Mom- uh, Maddie. Sure, heh, Maddie. You make sure Harry's okay while I finish this." Danny, in Jack's body, answered as he set her down and she booked over to the GAV while he stomped over to Vlad and lifted him up in his goo-covered form. "How's it going, V-Man?" Vlad made a mocking tone as he spoke in Danny-Jack's grip.

"Ooh, you've overshadowed Jack. Ooh, I'm so scared. Now what's next? A card trick?"

"Listen to me. I swear I'll walk out of my dad right now and expose us both, unless you agree to a truce."

"You're bluffing." Danny lowered Vlad as he spoke.

"No, I'm not. My parents will accept me, no matter what. But if I expose _you_... well, what would my _mom_ think of you?" Vlad got worried as Jack near-lectured Danny on such a move as Danny continued. "You'll be miserable and alone for the rest of your life, unless you call a truce."

"Using your opponent's weaknesses against him. I am teaching you something after all. Very well. Truce." Vlad smirked as he continued. "That was the old me and I will accept the setting, but you and I will still need to be close, I have much to teach and you can learn a bit."

"I accept that, Fruit Loop."

"And I could learn a bit from you, Little Badger. But for now..." He cleared his throat and floated into the air with a dramatic act. "Curse you, Jack Fenton! Your world-renowned expertise of all things ghost has defeated me! ...Until _next_ time, son." He screamed with drama as he faded away, likely going elsewhere while invisible while Danny phased out of Jack and headed off as the trio of adults conversed. Harriet was taken by the sheer act of what just happened and Maddie praising Jack, but Jack knew that it could be awhile before he would be facing off with any ghosts, Vlad was one show of power that he knew meant a bit more training and work. When Harriet made to make the career big with this 'ghost' sighting, Jack said otherwise, swaying Harriet in a surprise to just report her own stories to the Journal, ghosts were considered fake and without further evidence as Danny joined them and they gathered the clan after a short clean up, Vlad even playing along as he said and Danny could quote 'I kinda needed some chaos in my life and if Jack Fenton could cause it for me, even for a bit, then I will have had a true blast of a day.' Before long, the GAV headed back to Amity as Danny sat in the front seat with Jack driving, Maddie and Jazz in the back and in beds.

"I can't believe how crazy this whole reunion was."

"We were kicked out there, Danny, I can't believe that we made such a mockery of Vlad Masters, even with that whole cleanup and 'praising' speech." Jazz turned over to sleep as Jack spoke.

"I still can't believe how much has changed for old Vladdie. And he was so mad, he didn't even say goodbye after that speech." Jack fell depressed as he continued. "And we were all such great chums in college."

"Oh, whatever." Danny answered as he spoke about it, trying to be supportive. "Who cares what you were when you were younger? It's who you grew into that makes you who you are."

"You think?"

"Hey, if you can cause that much damage in college, and still turn out to be this cool, ghost-butt-kicking adult, well, maybe there's hope for me yet." Jack rested an arm around Danny as he spoke back.

"Thanks, son... But your curfew is still ten."

"Oh, man!" The GAV drove on past a sign that read 'Now leaving Wisconsin' before the lights flickered off and darkness overtook the place before long, Danny's adventure with a fruit loop of an uncle just barely beginning...


	8. S1 - Prisoners of Love

In the lab of Fenton Works, the sounds of adjusting and repairs came before Danny walked down, book in hand as he was reading over it before lowering it, directing his attention to his dad who was working on some sort of hover craft. "Dad, can I ask you a question?" Jack turned as he spoke.

"About the Specter Speeder?" He wrapped an arm around Danny and shoved him in as he went over the dashboard and the tech inside. "Sure! This little baby has state-of-the-art spirit plane exploration technology. And it's got a super-sized cup holder." Danny smirked as a cup holder popped out to Jack's continued voice. "I know that we haven't explored the depths of the Ghost Zone yet, but maybe you and your friends could take it out for a bit to see what there is, some time?" Danny nodded a bit before a voice called out from outside the Speeder.

"Jack, dear..." Jack slipped back out as he faced with Maddie as she continued to speak beside the Speeder. "It's getting awfully late. Is there something that you might have _forgotten_ today?"

"Uh..." Jack was confused as he rubbed his jaw to Maddie continuing her sentence.

"Something significant? Having to do with today's date of May Ninth?" Jack thought about it before glancing over to the calendar, his face taking on a face of a fish.

"Oh, fudge, our anniversary, I was so pulled into making and building the Specter Speeder that I nearly forgot our anniversary. I am SO sorry, Maddie." He scratched his head in regret as Maddie spoke with a small smile.

"Oh well, I guess it just slipped your mind, but just barely..." She breathed before speaking again. "Still, to build this tub of tech and exploration is just..." She hummed in displeasure before slamming a fist on the end of the Speeder. "VERY frustrating, Jack Fenton!" She stopped when the machine started up and moved into drive, both parents flinching as Danny could barely get a word out before the Speeder moved forward and the portal opened up before Danny yelped.

"Whoa!" He reacted in anticipation of slamming into the green swirl as Maddie and Jack yelped for him before both him and the Speeder passed through the vortex with his own exclaim. "Whooooooooa!" He peered about to the vast green of what MUST be the Ghost Zone, shocked to see it as several ghosts passed by the techno vehicle and several floating doors before he mused in amaze. "So this is what the Ghost Zone looks like, my parents are going to flip out with this." He tried to punch in a map, but it just sparked and Danny frowned. "Figures, everything seems to work, but the map can't be used to chart this place." He peered forward and gasped to a skidding halt in the Speeder as a larger-than-life ghost appeared, the darken form slipping to a white attire that Danny really couldn't place, a fedora on its bald head and green eyes glaring down to the small vessel as it spoke with a Southern accent.

"Trespassing in an unauthorized vehicle." The titan spoke as it pointed at the Speeder. "That's against the rules."

"Uh, sorry." Danny shook to the sheer amount of authority that this ghost had, he could handle Vlad's tone any day, there was just something about this one that scared him. "I-I didn't know. I'm from... out of town."

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it, punk." The ghost answered as it looked at Danny in the vehicle. "I see your face around here again, you and I are gonna have a problem."

"Y-Yes, sir." Danny saluted and smiled with a nervous hold before he shifted the Speeder in reverse and it took off with the ghost dissipating before the Speeder returned to its usual place as Danny caught hearing of something Maddie was shouting about.

"Now get this into your head, Jack Fenton, there are some things more important than hunting ghosts!" She slammed her fist on the back again and yelped. "Ow, wait..." Both turned as Danny came out as Maddie breathed. "It is excellent that you have returned, Danny, but next time, don't just sit in there." Maddie headed off as Danny breathed before Jack rested a hand on his shoulder and spoke.

"I know, I know. I'm just as freaked out by your mother's reaction as you are. But I'm glad that you're back, though it looks like the Speeder will have to wait, Maddie wants to head elsewhere." Danny looked freaked, what did that mean...!?

* * *

A taxi drove up to the curb and Maddie came out of Fenton Works with a suitcase while Jack clung to it as he exclaimed. "Maddie, please, don't go! I just have a little more work to do on the Specter Speeder, and then I'm done." He released as Maddie commented in front of the opened taxi door.

"We discussed this, Jack, remember? Visiting my sister? The _divorce_?" She got in and closed the door, rolling down the window as she continued, not as angry than what was initially expected if Jack didn't remember. "There's a casserole in the freezer right next to the ectoplasmic residue samples!" She rolled up the window as the taxi took off and Jack stood up before he exclaimed.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He attempted to run after the taxi as he shouted. "How will I know which is which?!" Danny stepped out with a worried look before he spoke to himself as he looked down the street.

"Divorce? What?!" He looked to Jazz who walked past him as he exclaimed. "Jazz, did you just hear that?" Jazz stopped with a turn to Danny as she commented.

"Hear what? Mom yelling at Dad? Relax. She'll get over it."

"Yeah, but I-I have never heard her so mad."

"Of course she's mad. And if I'm right, Dad will once again cluelessly do _nothing_ to apologize to her." Jack voiced otherwise as he headed back to Fenton Works and prepared a bag to follow suit.

"That's where you're wrong, Jasmine. I have been a little preoccupied with ghosts lately." He spoke as another taxi arrived to his lecture. "So, I'm traveling to your Aunt Alicia's in Spittoon, Arkansas to apologize, and give your mother the greatest anniversary gift _ever_." He tossed his suitcase into the taxi and it hit the driver, causing him to floor it as Jack quickly chased after the car as he shouted back. "Wish me luck! Oh, and call me if you see a ghost!" Danny paused before he asked.

"Jazz? Are Mom and Dad gonna split up?" It would be a hurtful thing to face, but Danny needed to know, he heard divorce, so he needed to know, but he stopped as Jazz looked... utterly freaked out.

"I was... wrong?!"

"Jazz?" He poked her and he got no reaction to the sudden doubt that she was giving off. "Jazz?!"

"Wait. He's going to Arkansas? To apologize? I was _wrong_?!" She rushed back inside as Danny watched her before a voice spoke up.

"Hey, Danny." He turned and smiled as Cedric strolled over and continued. "I heard about what was happening, I severely doubt that Maddie and Jack are splitting, I think that Jack needs to lighten the load, but also Maddie is heading to Arkansas because of the divorce, your aunt's?" Danny paused before he thought about it and face-palmed.

"Doh! I forgot, Aunt Alicia's divorce is ten years strong, of course, Mom and Dad are not splitting, but he does need a gift... and a clean house."

"I'll help, I need to find out what happened with Talia in the first place." Talia was Desiree's new name after Cedric made his wish, she content with it and being with him, but after several days during the Fenton's visit to Wisconsin, she disappeared and hasn't been seen for a while. Danny nodded as he let Cedric in and they went to work cleaning up the mess as Jazz was frantic about something, Cedric glancing to find the elder Fenton sibling with frazzled hair and tons of books based on her own notes and journals, shaking with a cup of coffee and stack of notes in hand as he slipped back and continued the work.

"I don't understand. Every piece of evidence I have indicates Dad would _never_ be self-aware enough to realize he made a mistake." She put down the notes and continued her freak-out. "If I'm wrong about this, what else could I have been wrong about?" She hears rattling and shouted from the kitchen. "Danny, keep it down, would ya?!" The reason why it was rattling was because Danny was vacuuming the walls... as Phantom as he called back.

"Hey! I'm trying to make this place spotless so Mom will have a clean house to come home to." Jazz rushed out as Cedric took to downstairs as Danny landed behind her and turned back to human with a awkward smile.

"Well, I need to concentrate!" She turned to Danny as he stood behind her before she groaned. "Ugh! I'll be at the library." She headed out as Danny waited before transforming again and heading down to the lab as he grimaced to the state of things.

"Oh, my gosh. This place is a mess!" He floated further down as he groaned. "If Mom comes back and sees the lab like this, she'll be even _angrier_ at Dad." He sighed and fired a blast, knocking some trash into the can before he smiled while Cedric checked over everything before Danny fired, cleaning the place up a bit more thorough except a present that was launched into the Zone, both surprised as a tag from it fell off and Cedric read it.

"'Let this gift repair the bridge of our love. Happy anniversary - Jack?'" Both looked to the portal as Danny grimaced.

"Oh no."

"Well, to be fair, I checked the present and it seems like an early prototype for some form of ecto-protection, in belt form." Cedric lowered the tag as the both of them looked at the green swirl. "Besides, we will find it in there, we just need to keep an eye and ear out." Elsewhere, Jack found himself dropping out of a plane and finding Maddie just fine, though he was a bit cooked from an ecto-weapon...

* * *

The four walked down the halls as Danny commented. "You should've seen 'em fighting. My folks _never_ fight. Well, they fight ghosts, but... that's different." Sam placed a hand on Danny's shoulder as she explained as well.

"Danny, relax. Nobody gets divorced over not getting a gift."

"But it's the thing my dad's gonna use to apologize! They're... right on the brink! I'm telling ya, _anything_ could set them over the edge."

"I think you're letting Jazz's sudden paranoia overwhelm you, Danny." Cedric pointed out, not ready to explore the Zone just yet as Tucker made it a bit worse.

"Danny, you're fine. I mean, it's not like your mom actually _said_ the word 'divorce.' I mean, if she actually said the word, then you'd have to worry."

"Said the word." Danny stopped before he spoke again. "Oh, man. She did!" He screeched in complete fear as he continued. "She said the word!"

"Tucker, say something to calm him down!"

"Well... uh... did she say it twice?" Sam and Cedric face-palmed as Danny resolved his mind for the action on hand.

"That settles it. I'm going _into_ the Ghost Zone and get that present back."

"This will not end badly..." Cedric breathed as he checked his list and smirked. "Well, I can work with the tech, so let's see what we can find..." After school, they headed out to Fenton Works and descending down to the lab, Cedric getting some great work together as he formed a small pad to detail and catalog everything they find through a headset that Danny now wore as he sighed.

"I _so_ don't want to do this."

"You get in, get the present, and get out. You'll be fine." Sam commented as Tucker added to it while Cedric worked a makeshift set up for monitoring.

"Besides, with this mini webcam, I'll be with you every step of the way." He showed a recording of Tucker talking before he continued. "But first..." He started to play games before Danny spoke to both Sam and Cedric.

"You'll both monitor the webcam?"

"We'll monitor the webcam." Danny nodded as he faced the portal and jumped in, going into the green abyss as Sam voiced her amaze through the headset. "Wow! This place is amazing!"

"No, it's not. It's creepy. And it goes on forever. I don't even know where to start to look!"

"Well, we better start looking then." Cedric answered as he ran the numbers and searched with Danny giving feedback. "These readings coming back are interesting, they're showing abnormal gravity fluctuation and a high level of ecto-plasmic miasma with isolated pockets across this expanded realm."

"Uh, English, Cedric?"

"It's simple, Sam." Cedric adjusted the headphones on as he was continuing the data collection and crunch. "The whole realm seems to be exhibiting unique levels of anti-gravity, simulating a type of environment of space, in a better word, and the ecto-plasmic miasma is a potential deadly substance that could corrode human tissue slowly." He pulled over a new screen and expanded it as he continued. "However, this type of substance seems to be sealed deep down what appear to be either large pieces of ground or, dare I say it, ghost lairs and domains." Danny got confused as he continued to fly.

"Domains? Why has my dad never said anything about domains?"

"Because he has never explored and only has the belief in lairs, small residence for ghosts, and haunts, places where ghosts are likely to inhibit for the most of their time." Cedric continued as he continued the work and informing Danny where to go and not through short-range pings. "Domains are unique on the grounds that they stimulate actual cultures or societies that ghosts need to consign to, like following the norm of human society on a certain topic." Danny nodded as he headed further in as Sam spoke as Danny felt like he was just getting lost.

"Relax, Danny. You avoided a 'ecto-beastial form' and a graveyard just fine." Danny breathed as, back in the lab, Sam continued to speak. "We all just have to stay focused. Right, Tucker?" She paused before speaking to the missing guy. "Tucker?" Cedric looked as well to find him in the Specter Speeder as he commented to the technological marvel.

"I can't believe Danny didn't want to take the Specter Speeder." He pressed a few buttons on the dashboard as he continued in praise. "This thing rocks!" Cedric faced-palmed as Tucker continued to tamper with the controls of the hover craft before Sam walked over to the domed windshield and addressed the need for Danny with the PDA for the headset in hand.

"He can cover more ground on his own."

"But it's got a cup holder!" The cup holder was ejected out before Tucker noticed something. "Hey, what's this thing do?" He pushed the red button with a shapeless ghost underneath and a computerized voice spoke.

"Real World items detected." A green scope appeared in the Speeder in the form of a half-circle as Tucker commented to the 3D display.

"Cool! It's a scanner."

"Real World items?" Sam questioned as Cedric answered, somehow connecting with the scanner.

"I am picking up unique signatures from the Zone, it looks like there are a number of objects taken from the real world and relocated into the Ghost Zone, but I don't..." Tucker piped up as he spoke to Danny.

"Danny! I think we can guide you to the present." Sam joined in with leading Danny to the gift.

"There's a doorway coming up on your left. Take it." Danny took it and flew on through before he commented with a stop.

"Huh." The room was littered with so many things that Danny was surprised to see such things in the Zone before he spoke again. "So *this* is where all that stuff ends up."

"Yes!" Danny glanced as the Box Ghost yelled with an arrival from below him. "It all ends up in the possession of THE BOX GHOST!" Danny groaned as he questioned why exactly he was dealing with this jester of ghosts.

"Ugh, what are *you* doing here?" The Box Ghost, as always, made unneeded movements with his arms, body and legs.

"I am The Box Ghost! Where do you think we go when you release us from your round, cylindrical trap?" Danny rolled his eyes as he replied to the drifting things.

"You mean the Fenton Thermos?"

"I am the Box Ghost! And beware! For I am merely *ONE* of your foes who reside in this realm! In fact, you might say, we're a package deal!" Danny face-palmed with a groan as he spoke up for any help, the Box Ghost was annoying, but he could help in locating something lost.

"Look, I'm looking for something important, I don't have time for your box puns." Danny readied himself for a fight, but before he could, sirens were going off and coming closer as he glanced to the side to locate the sound before the Box Ghost yelped with a turn of his head back to Danny.

"Flee! Lest you be hermetically sealed and shipped to your doooom!" Box Ghost tried to make a run for it, but the blasts that came were dangerously close and one hit him before transforming into actual cuffs as he looked around before Danny exclaimed to the sudden arrest.

"Hey, what's going on?" Several more were fired and Danny screamed as he was hit with one and suddenly bound with handcuffs of his own before a familiar voice spoke.

"Possession of unauthorized recording equipment." The webcam was taken off Danny as the white-attired figure spoke. "That's against the rules." The ghost answered before putting the set down with a continued lecture. "Or at least it is *now*." In the other hand was an opened book that glowed green before Danny tried to get a voice out.

"Wait! This is all a big misunderstanding!"

"There may be chaos everywhere in this Ghost Zone, but there'll be order in *my* prison. You should've heeded my warning, punk. Now you and I have a problem." Before long, the two were carted into a van that was labeled with 'GZPD' as Danny grimaced.

"Great. My folks are splitting up, my sister's a basket case, and I'm going to ghost jail." He huffed as he cast a glance to the Box Ghost and forward again. "This may be the worst day of my life." The van came to a halt and the back door opened to a ghost guard in some swat attire before the two took a look outside and upon the building that must be the prison. He grimaced as behind another one of the guards was a crowd of prisoners, front and center, however, was Skulker with Desiree and Technus in the robot body also there as Skulker shouted at Danny.

"Well, if it isn't the young whelp who helped us get locked up in this stinking place! Welcome home." Another groan slipped out from Danny.

"This _is_ the worst day of my life."

"I am the Box Ghost!"

"Will you stop that!" Danny yelled at the Box Ghost as Skulker cracked his knuckles as Danny knew that things were going to get bad soon...

* * *

Back in the Real World, Tucker shouted as the feed cut while he was still in the Specter Speeder. "Danny? Danny! Talk to me!" Sam rushed over to the side as she grimaced with Cedric seeing the same thing.

"It's no use. He can't hear us." With that, Cedric answered with a plan of action that they needed to do.

"Then we'll just have to go in after him!" Tucker nodded as he lowered his PDA while Sam just shouted.

"What are you, nuts?"

"Danny!" Jazz's voice echoed down the way as the trio looked out to the stairs as the door opened as Jazz continued. "Are you down there?" The pair of first friends got into the seats as Jazz continued in her inquiring. "Sam! Hello? Anyone? I was hoping someone would go over every excruciating detail of my personal diaries to look for minuscule errors." Jazz asked with a coral book in hand while Sam strapped in and held tight as Cedric didn't feel the need to correct the 'perfect scholar' sister of Danny's as the goth looked to Tucker who had the controls in hand as she spoke.

"You drive." Without pause, Tucker thrust the controls forward and it started up before blasting off into the Fenton Portal and into the Ghost Zone as Jazz arrived, taking a moment to look around before yelping in sorrow on how there was no one there to tell her any troubles she could be having. That didn't say anything about Danny as he was bound up in chains to a chair as he was lectured by the white ghost as the spirit listed off charges while walking by.

"Trespassing. Loitering. Creating a disturbance." The ghost paused before pointing a finger into the opened book he had and listed off another charge. "_And_, possession of real-world contraband." Danny spotted the present and tried to reach for it, but it was impossible as he tried to plead.

"Excuse me, sir, but-but-" Any more was cut when the ghost lifted him up by the prison shirt he now wore.

"Name's Walker, son. Know it. Fear it. Obey it." Walker answered as he listed off his own status in the prison. "I am your judge, executioner, jury, executioner, jailer, and, if necessary, your executioner." Danny paused before he pointed out the 'why' of three uses of 'executioner'.

"Uh, you said 'executioner' three times." Walker dropped Danny as he answered the question.

"I like that part of the job." Danny glanced to the present floating in the air while Walker read through his little book once more before Danny turned to Walker and spoke.

"Well, you see, uh, Mr. Walker, uh, the truth is—" Danny spoke as he lifted the chair and got closer to the present, to take it from the horrible walls and colors of the prison itself, Walker looking the other way. "—I-I'm actually trying to _remove _the contraband. So, um, if I could just grab it and go, I'll promise I'll—" His nervous chuckle and move to grab the present was in vain as Walker trudged over and pushed the seat back down with a leg, the chair falling to the floor while a hand in white glove gripped the construct as Walker spoke.

"I'd like to let you go, son, but I can't." Walker answered with a short crouching and standing straight up as he looked at his book again. "That'd be against the rules. But seeing how this is a first offense, I'm willing to be lenient." He had walked forward before slamming the book shut and shouting as he pointed a finger at Danny. "One thousand years!" Danny was shocked and scared of what his life in prison is going to be like with such a corrupt and long sentence.

While elsewhere in the Real World was Jack's struggle to get the right words and moves together for Maddie, Danny was hauled away and treated like the other prisoners before a prison guard called out. "Chow time!" Every spirit and ghost were hauled out to the cafeteria, Danny pausing for a moment before getting a baton in the back as the ghost spoke. "Move it out!" Danny walked as it was a small space, one that he didn't insist on working with, but had to as he took it all in and glanced back down to check the tables, his gaze lingering on the table where four familiar faces sat, all of them giving him crossed looks as Danny groaned with a sweat and weak chuckle.

"Wow, heh, pretty much everyone who hates me all at one table. Just like high school." As if on signal, the four stood up and walked over to him with Technus holding a fist in his other hand as they made a semi-circle on Danny as he exclaimed. "Sorry I can't stay and catch up on old times!" Danny answered as he stepped backwards to avoid the fight, but the fight found him as he turned and the first ever ghost he fought inquiring for him.

"Can I get anything, dearie? Coffee? Pudding? An extra helping of _DOOM_?!" The Lunch Lady flared in rage as Danny leaned back from the danger and takes off as Lunch Lady gives chase of him with a laugh before he slammed into Skulker and is bumped away as the prisoners formed a circle on him and pushed him about the barrier before he was slapped away by Technus and caught by the Lunch Lady in a ladle headlock as Skulker pounded his fist into his own palm as he ranted.

"Payback time, ghost child!" Danny knew that most of the ghosts there were just caught and thrown back into the Zone, he didn't know about this corrupt policing body, so why should they be ganging up on him as they came close, Skulker pounding his fist in readiness of giving Danny a beat-down before he yelped and dropped, Desiree huffing as she waved her hand, having just chopped Skulker in the neck.

"He's right, that does feel a lot harder than iron." She turned and crossed her arms as she peered at Danny as she spoke to the sudden change in the crowd. "I didn't think that you would have given us to Walker's prison, but from the sound of it, he just slapped you with the lighter punishment with the max time."

"Desiree, what's going on?" Lunch Lady was confused, but a nod from Desiree and she released as Danny continued. "Why are you in here, I saw Skulker up at Wisconsin not a few days ago, and I don't want to know what Technus was doing during that time." The robot huffed as Desiree spoke, guiding Danny to the table as she spoke in hushed tone, Skulker getting lifted to his feet and the prison crowd went their way in mulling about.

"Walker is cracking down on all of us, trying to get order back in the Zone which is impossible except other lairs and domains, so he sees himself as the 'only' body of safety from the chaos, he got me while I was trying to collect a few things to take to my new home, Skulker was charged for 'traveling across a long distance', Technus was just arrested for nothing except having a new, unknown body." Danny nodded as she continued. "We haven't attempted to thwart Walker's power here, due to the high level of guards, but the chance is now more apparent." Danny blinked before he spoke, dismissing the fact that Desiree was looking the same for some reason.

"You think that I could get us out of here?" She nodded as Danny looked at the odds, a few guards up top, always watching for any trouble, but that could work... yes, it could work! All he needed was... "Skulker, I have a plan to escape..."

"I am the B-" Before the Box Ghost could continue, he was shoved away and Skulker, having recovered to hear this plan, spoke with question.

"Go on." Danny nodded as he started.

"If we work together, we could all bust out of here." He continued to explain about the plan. "And you could always kick my butt later." Skulker pondered it for a bit before he nodded, the small meeting getting the key four together as he spoke.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, for now." With that, Danny started to explain the plan out, considering the 'total control' Walker has, it just needs a crack to bring the whole thing down while in another part of the Ghost Zone, the trio of friends basically were flying rather blind as Sam sighed and spoke up to Tucker's driving and 'attempted' scanning.

"Face it, Tucker. We're lost." Cedric slightly glanced over as Tucker replied back with a device in hand with a transverse wave on it as he spoke.

"If I could just re-calibrate the scanner—"

"You put way too much faith in technology." Sam cut him off as a girl started to float close to them before she spoke up about their new contact. "Let's just get out and ask that girl for directions." With that, the goth called out as she inquired, drawing the girl's attention as the eyes opened to red pupils. "Hello there!" Sam waved and knocked on the glass to keep the attention for the direction before Cedric, narrowing his eyes, spoke up as he pushed off the wall.

"Princess Dorathea, what are you doing here?" What Cedric knew that the two didn't know was that she was holding the same Amulet of Aragon that caused such a mess at the dance and she looked ready to transform on their butts before her eyes glowed in recognition.

"Sir Cedric Trace?" She floated closer as she inquired. "What are you doing here, the Ghost Zone is no place for humans, especially now."

"What's happening, Dora?" Cedric asked as he raised his brow, the two friends looking at each other as Dora hummed with an answer.

"Walker is on the war path, he has been taking all those who wander to his dungeons to serve absurd life sentences to sate his own ego... much like another..."

"Can you direct us to him?" Cedric inquired as Dora shook her head.

"I cannot, my home has wronged me and I cannot be seen by others as escorting humans, but there is a possible way, you need only locate a Real-World item, Walker is often known for hoarding the treasures of humans." Cedric nodded as Tucker made to head off to a wave of Cedric's

"Got it, see you around, Princess."

"Fare thee well, Sir Cedric, I pray that you do take heed of the trouble that could come." They headed off as Tucker multi-tasked to get a signal together, the only reason it worked with Danny was because he was already close and the sensor picked up on it. Meanwhile, Danny began his plan of getting the prison to riot and with that, he...

...He mental face-palmed as he took another punch from Skulker, the plan was to draw some of the guards in, treating it as normal as, after a brutal fight that the guards do nothing about, the injured ghost would be carted off to the infirmary. That left a weakness as he was flung from the group chanting, slamming into the line of ghostly food before he made a moaning sound with getting doused in some green liquid, soup from the taste. "Ohhh... My ghost leg!" He just groaned on it as he thought it through, why did he decide to be the new guy to get beaten up... He mentally shrugged on the notion that it needed to be convincing and his opponent sure made it apparent on that as he pushed from the crowd and remarking.

"_Pfh_! My prey ceases to amuse me." Danny 'staggered' to get up as two of the swat ghosts approached with a swagger as one spoke.

"Another one for the infirmary." Neither were prepared when Danny struck, taking one out and snatching his baton before shouting with a hurl of the weapon.

"Now!" The stick flew true as Skulker caught, the prisoners in the 'crowd' quickly turning their attention to the fight of freedom.

"Attack!" The riot was underway as the guards were unprepared to the sudden attack, the whole ground floor in chaos as the other ghosts went to work on their captors, Skulker had a different role as he used the baton with great effect, the guards up top were of the greater threat and if Skulker could stop them with their own restraints, then the riot will win out as Technus proved the strength of his machine body were far surpassing of the guards and Desiree, though not in the rough of it, still found time to take a few down with her own skill and ability as Danny did his best before joining Skulker with guards surrounding them, but they were not afraid, winking at each other as they tore through the guards around them, truly being the symbols of rebellion.

Danny counted them lucky for a bit before he grimaced as more arrived, these ones armed with shields and tactics as they fired on the crowd, catching a few, before shielding up from any attempts to overwhelming them so the odds were against them, but no one was expecting the Lunch Lady as she just flew up to the guards and offered some food.

"Can I offer you gentlemen some apples?" Two of the guards looked at each other before back to the Lunch Lady with a shake of their heads which they shouldn't have done as she screeched. "Then dine on my _FURY_!" Her hands glowed and formed a spear-like form before rounding at the top, surprise filling everyone before the Lunch Lady was suddenly now wielding a massive leg of chicken in hand and caused the guards to scatter out of there as the drumstick smashed through the wall, frame and all, as the prisoners entered the halls and the riot continued as Danny inquired with Desiree.

"Has the Lunch Lady always been able to do that?"

"You got me there, Daniel, I didn't know she could even preform such a attack on anyone." Danny huffed as they continued to fight on, taking out guards as they went before making it to the large steel doors that must serve as the way out. Danny turned about and made to head the other direction as Skulker shouted.

"You're going the wrong way!" He paused and looked back as the few ghosts looked at him while the others made to force the doors open with the Lunch Lady commenting.

"Yes sweetie, You're supposed to riot with the guards here,—" She changed to 'hostile Lunch' as she shouted. "—And face your doom out there!" Reverting back, she offered a treat. "Pie?"

"No thanks, I have some unfinished business with the warden." Danny replied and the Lunch Lady just accepted it as the doors swung open and prisoners rushed out.

"Okay." She followed suit as Skulker remarked.

"Good luck, child. I look forward to hunting you, on the other side."

"Thanks." His happy look slipped to confusion as he continued. "I think?" They parted as Desiree lingered a bit longer before she gasped, her eyes flashing yellow as she smiled.

"He's here!" She bolted off through the doors as Tucker and Sam checked the scanner with a huff while Cedric looked out across the Zone for anyone else to help them.

"Can't this tub be more exact, how long is it going to take to find this 'Walker'!?"

"I'm trying! We're also looking for Danny too, you know." Cedric glanced over as he huffed at the pair of them.

"This would be a bit easier if you two can hold together, we are in an uncharted territory, so fighting over this is not going to help anyone." They shrugged as Cedric looked back out, meeting the gaze of a smiling green genie, the moment pausing before Cedric, after a second, exclaimed. "TALIA!" They both jumped as Sam yelped.

"Wha...!" Desiree phased into the vehicle before she breathed, her body regressing before a white ring formed around her and she turned from green to brown skin, the red turning to blue as she slumped into Cedric's arms as she spoke.

"Thank the desert sands that you are here..."

"Take a moment to rest, Talia." Cedric spoke as she just dozed off and he looked to the surprised pair. "If she's here, then we know that Danny is here as well."

"How exactly...!?" Sam started before the scanner spoke up finally, with a display.

"Real-world item detected." They looked to it before Tucker remarked.

"Sweet." He guided the Speeder to the direction where they needed to head on the display. They watched before their eyes widened to the imposing doors... that they were going to hit as Sam yelped once more.

"Tucker! Look out!" Before any of them could stop the Speeder, it barreled through and phased through the door just fine, lights coming on as Tucker breathed with the other two that were conscious as he spared a glance behind them before facing forward.

"File that on under 'Would've been nice to know we could do that trick in the first place'." They nodded as they focused on the radar as the warden, on the other side of the prison, yelled into the microphone he had in front of him.

"Guards, what's going on down there?" He lifted it as he continued to get static. "Somebody answer me!" The doorway was kicked open by Danny Phantom as he spoke up, now in his usual outfit after discarding the prison look somewhere in the halls.

"How about saying 'please'?" Danny voiced as he pointed it out. "Saying 'please' is a rule." This took Walker by surprise as he exclaimed.

"It is?" Cracking open the book, he looked before Danny closed the tome on the white ghost's finger as he continued.

"Where I'm from, it's a common courtesy and it is now." He glanced over and spotted his object of interest as he exclaimed. "The present!" He leapt for it, soaring past Walker and almost grabbed the gift before he was hurled into the floor by Walker catching his foot and planting a boot on Danny's chest with a huff as Walker growled at him as Danny made to get the pushing limb off his chest.

"Now let me acquaint _you_ with a few rules." Danny shared with a defiant look as Walker spoke. "Rule one. You cross me, you pay the consequences." Danny breathed as Walker just lectured. "Rule two. Just because you're a ghost doesn't mean I can't crush you within an inch of your afterlife. Rule three-" Anymore was lost when the Speeder phased right through the wall and the hatch opened to the Iron Exorcist standing there with a glowing palm, Danny taking note that Desiree, or rather Talia, was sleeping in the backseat as a wall parted them from the Ghost Zone and the cockpit.

"Rule Three. I AM the danger zone." With the sound of a gunshot, Walker slammed into the wall as Exorcist leapt out and got into stance as he added another rule. "Rule Four. Chaos or Order, you touch my friends, consider yourself null of life." Danny shook himself off as he questioned.

"Tucker, Sam, Cedric! How'd you get in here?" Tucker had that answer as Sam and Tucker watched the fight undergo between Walker and Cedric, Cedric the CLEAR master as each blast and blow were painfully for Walker to endure.

"Check it out!" He removed his hands as he explained. "Real-world stuff just phases through everything in here." Sam added to it as Cedric got space between them and Walker.

"In the Ghost Zone, _we're_ the ghosts!" The thought started to make Danny think before he spoke with recognition.

"We're the ghosts?" He clued in as he straightened up. "So... maybe it's time to stop fighting like a ghost... And start fighting like a kid!" He transformed back as Walker took a swing at Danny, surprised that he just passed through to Danny's smile as he walked through as Cedric pulled back to the Speeder with his face still hidden. Danny walked up to the present before he grabbed it, pleased that it was still normal as he spoke. "I'll take that!" He turned and headed back to the Speeder as Walker tried to stop him, but he just phased through as he exclaimed, flopping on the ground with the final attempt to stop Danny.

"Why— can't— I— touch you?!" Danny answered as Cedric saluted off as the hatch closed and Danny headed to the back that had a handrail.

"Forget it, Walker. This is the _Ghost_ Zone, I'm not just a ghost, I'm human." Danny pointed out as he gripped the railing and held the present under his arm. "Your rules don't apply." The Specter Speeder headed off again, phasing through the wall as Walker called out in disbelief, his 'order' ruined in a single day.

"NOOOOO!" They headed home and Cedric saw Danny off with Jazz as they took off to Arkansas with Tucker and Sam before they scattered, their short journey into the Ghost Zone taking a backseat as it was a bit more troubling than expected...

* * *

The night light loomed over Spittoon as Maddie sat on the pouch, looking a bit more worried before a voice spoke up. "Why, hey there! Pretty young thang!" Jack was in blue overalls over his jumpsuit and a bud on the front of his hair as Maddie questioned.

"Jack Fenton, what on Earth are you doing?" Jack answered as he spoke with a finger pointed to him.

"Sweet talking you, proving I can step away from work and pay attention to our relationship." He looked at his wrist with a pause before pulling out a slip of paper from one of the overall pockets. "You've got a smile that shines like swamp gas in the moonlight." He peered off to the side as the three guys he met at the general shop just gave him the thumbs up. "Your mind twinkles like the moon off the bumper of my pick-em-up truck, and—" He tried to smile, but falter as he tried to continue. "Oh, this—" He face-palmed mentally as he spoke. "—is stupid." Maddie inquired as she asked if their topic of research was the only thing they should focus on.

"What's stupid, Jack? Anything besides ghosts?"

"No, but pretending to be something I'm not _is_." He fuzzed the hair back to normal and held out his arms as he declared his love the only way he knew how. "You know I can be a fool, and you know that I can forget things, but the one thing you know more than anything even more than that ghosts exist and that your sister is a bitter old bat, is that I love you, baby."

"Oh, Jack." She was touched by his words and his own actions as Jack continued.

"And, I wanted to give you..." He stammered as he realized a problem. "To give you..." He remembered it, a nice-looking present, but he left it behind as he rushed out the door before he face-palmed himself at the face that he neglected to grab the present. "Aw, crud." Maddie rolled her eyes as she inquired.

"You forgot the present, didn't you?" Jack looked up and nodded with a huff as Alicia came out of the door, her presence drawing Maddie's attention as she exclaimed.

"Told you he was a fool." Maddie looked back as Jack tried to explain.

"Well, I-I, uh—"

"No he didn't!" The three adults looked up as Danny and Jazz came from the sky with parachutes and landed as Danny exclaimed with gift in hand. "H-He kept it at home—" Danny answered as he gave the gift over to Jack. "—uh, so the mosquitoes wouldn't get it?" Danny shrugged as Jack crouched down to his level and whispered to him.

"Good boy. You're getting a raise in your allowance for this." Danny cocked a brow as he asked with a finger to his chin.

"I have an actual allowance?" Jack winked before bolted over with a slide of his knees as he offered the gift.

"Happy anniversary, baby!" He stood up as he continued to Maddie hugging him. "And I'm sorry. I'll try to be better about things in the future." Danny breathed as he held up a finger and asked.

"You guys aren't getting a divorce?" This confused the adults as Maddie spoke, gift now in hand.

"_Divorce_?" She leaned forward as she inquired before standing up right again. "Who said anything about _us_ getting a divorce?" Danny answered with a short one.

"A bit of paranoia and added surprise." A honking came as the five looked to the foliage before a number of rednecks emerged, gleeful as the day of their own parties as a band played on the back of the red pickup that arrived, confusing the kids, but not Maddie or Jack as they turned back to Alicia and shouted.

"Surprise!" Maddie wrapped a arm around her sister's body and turned her around as a poster was unfurled over the house, saying 'A DECADE OF DIVORCE' on it as more rednecks arrived and cheered as Alicia started in surprise joyful tears.

"A party! For the tenth anniversary of my divorce! You remembered!" Maddie voiced her input as Danny felt all of the shock and terror slip away as Cedric was right, it was just his aunt's party where the divorce came from, Tucker was going to suffer when he got back.

"Well, sure! I even convinced your ex-husband to come." A dunk tank was set up with a business-looking man in it before getting dunked and the party was in full swing with dancing, games, and the such before Jack asked Maddie about the gift, unopened yet.

"Well, aren't you going to open the present?" Maddie handed the box over to Jack to rip into it before the Box Ghost, SOMEHOW getting in, yelled as he came out.

"I am the Box Ghost!" He waved his hands in a spooky movement as Danny and Jazz spoke to each other, Danny relieved as Jazz looked through a coral book.

"They weren't _ever_ gonna get a divorce!" Danny spoke with held out arms as he just continued. "It was all just a huge misunderstanding." Jasmine was not so convinced as she exclaimed as she peered through the book and looking at Danny.

"But, Dad doesn't apologize! Dad doesn't understand what a goof he can be!" She answered with her chin up and eyes closed. "These are constants!" Both turned as the Box Ghost hovered over them before shouting.

"Beware!" He flew off with Jack and Maddie chasing after him.

"Ghooost!" Jazz huffed with joy as she took in the 'normal behavior', something she lived with and knew true as she closed the book.

"Ah, sweet normalcy. I'll take being right and embarrassed over wrong every time." Danny rolled his eyes as she put the book down and offered some pie. "Want some rhubarb pie?"

"Love some." Sudden, one of the rednecks, the bandanna one, appeared and both looked at him as he spoke.

"I'd stay away from that if I was you." He spat with a clang before the pair looked at the pie and Jazz put it down before moving on, there was other things to do than debate what exactly was in the pie...


	9. S1 - My Brother's Keeper

Out front of the school of Casper, the school prepared for its 'Spirit Week Centennial' which celebrated one hundred years of spirit in the school as Lancer... was using a trampoline to bounce in cheer and pose. "Casper! High! Spirit! Oomph!" He crashed to the ground, in front of Jazz Fenton, but was no less deterred as he remarked with looking up. "Ahh, Spirit Week. I love it so." He continued as he stood up. "The pomp, the circumstance, and mostly the spirit sparklers!" Just as quickly, he whipped out a photo of his younger days as a 'cheerleader' in Casper. "Jasmine, did you know I was a cheerleader when I went to school here?"

"Really? Weird. No clue." She answered as she pushed the photo down as she spoke. "Look, can I talk to you for a minute, Mr. Lancer?" They headed inside as Danny got into trouble. "About my brother Danny?" His ghost sense went off and paused before spotting the ghost in the room that belonged to a 'Spectra Penelope', jumping into a locker and changing. "He's been acting really strange lately. Like he's not himself anymore." He phased through and confronted the ghost before the pair brawled as Jazz continued. "I'd talk to him, but I'm his older sister and he's just going to think I'm being bossy. And if he doesn't get some help, if he doesn't talk to somebody, all that frustration he's repressing could come out the wrong way." Danny fired several ecto-blasts, but missed as the ghost just growled at him and took off, Danny raising a brow as he revert back just as the door opened and both groups looked surprised before Danny moaned at the ruined state of the office.

"Okay, somewhere in my sentence is an exclamation that I didn't do this, but I got nothing, sorry." Lancer grabbed him by the collar and yanked out into the hall to wait for the new counselor to arrive and see what the young Fenton did...

* * *

Jazz was the one who broke the silence as the trio had waited on the counselor, Spectra dressed in red business attire, shades involved, but it was the green eyes that were strange. "Is it always so cold in here?"

"Of course!" Spectra answered as she dialed it from 'Cold' to 'Colder' before turning to face the small group. "I find that cold temperatures keep the mind icy sharp." She adjusted a bit of the office a bit as she continued. "And don't you worry about this mess of an office, either. Stuff happens! No biggie. Right, Jasmine?"

"It's Jazz. My friends call me Jazz."

"Yeah, well, your brother calls you fink!" Danny hissed at her as Jazz tried to be understanding.

"Danny, I'm just trying to help. Come on, we used to talk all the time."

"Yeah, when I was eight and you weren't a fink." Danny countered with venom, he just couldn't believe this, Jazz WANTED him to talk to someone!? She had better luck just reading her books as Lancer cut in.

"That's more than enough out of you, Fenton. Get to class while Ms. Spectra and I decide what your punishment is." Danny scowled toward Jazz before stomping off in a huff as Lancer commented on Jazz's own skill. "Unlike her brother, Jazz is one of Casper's best and brightest. She'll be giving the keynote pep speech at our centennial Spirit-a-thon on Wednesday."

"Right on! That's why I'm here." The counselor answered as she gestured to the photos behind her, no one noticing how she just smiled, but her charges look like they are in the dumps. "To pump up the pep, one student at a time."

"Jazz, Dr. Spectra is a highly respected motivational speaker and teen therapist. She's agreed to help pump up the volume on that old Casper High spirit this week." A short midget of a man entered with a disinterested look as Spectra introduced him to them.

"And this is my assistant, Bertrand." Jazz waved, but the man just sniffed to Jazz's falter as Spectra continued. "Jazz, we're gonna have a super week! Wait'll you see what we have planned for the Spirit-a-thon! Right after your speech, show her, Bertrand,-" The large pad in hand was flipped over with the word 'Casper High' spelled out in dominoes "-we'll set off this domino chain that says 'Casper Spirit'. Dominoes represent how each person's spirit affects the next person they touch. Slammin', huh?"

"If by slammin', you mean weird, then yes."

"And the spirit sparklers go off afterwards... right?" Lancer asked as Spectra sated the interest.

"Oh, you bet they will." From nowhere, she pulled out a pair of sparklers before waving them around while on the desk. "After all, what's spirit week without spirit sparklers?"

"You know, you're a little over-peppy, but my brother might benefit from talking to you. But he's so mad right now, he'd never listen to me."

"Yes, well, he'll listen to me." Soon, Danny was pulled back to the office and he was very cross before he paced himself. He looked up and breathed, his breath... He stopped as the cold was in the room, but he could see his breath as he scowled before settling back down, he needed to know what exactly was going on before he made a move from the 'Happy Chair' as the door opened to Paulina coming out with Spectra as well.

"So, you're saying my popularity is, like, completely dependent on my beauty?" Danny raised a brow at how unhappy Paulina was sounding as Spectra was dismissive.

"I'm not saying it's fair, sweetie. But if you feel like you need something, like, a _lot _of makeup, I say go for it! You're the only you you've got!" She turned as she called. "Danny, come on in!" She headed back as Danny followed behind as he cast a glance to Paulina who looked so... different, like a different side was exposed, a vulnerable one as he took a seat and huffed with a shiver.

"I can't believe my stupid sister convinced Lancer to make this my punishment. And can we please turn up the heat in here? I can see my own breath!"

"Wow, you _do _complain a lot. Hm." Spectra shrugged as she continued. "Well, your sister did say you could be a bit of a baby." Alarms were ringing in Danny's head as he exclaimed.

"What?!"

"Sweetie, it's not your fault she thinks you're a loser." Danny furrowed his brow in disbelief, was this truly how Jazz felt about him or... were the words being instilled in his head, the thought shattering them from him and he played along.

"Wait, Jazz called me a loser too?"

"Hey, those are her issues." Spectra remarked as she stepped behind Danny. "I'm not saying you're a loser, Danny. I think you're a great kid!" She placed her hands on his shoulders and Danny felt the drain as he spoke again.

"Then why do I feel so miserable?"

"You know what I think?" Spectra continued as she got down to his level. "You might be a mess, but 'mess' is just the beginning of 'message'! Now go out there and be a better you." Danny got up and headed out, reinforcing his thoughts of 'I will, without this depression' as he left, the door slamming behind him before he lightly hugged the wall and eavesdropped the conversation. "Marvelous." The click of something made Danny think a compact was opened, so whatever Spectra was doing involved her appearance as a second voice entered the fray, likely Bertrand, the creepy little man.

"Why are you wasting your time on a messed up kid when we've got a big to-do planned for Wednesday?"

"Yeah, but Wednesday's still a couple days away. Hmm. Teen misery is the nectar that keeps me looking fabulous." The compact closed as Spectra continued. "And that Fenton kid is like a walking spa treatment!" From the corner of Danny's eye, he watched the little man goop down and turn into the ghost that got him in trouble in the first place.

"Hmm, then maybe I should up the ante." He transformed into a big hornet thing and Danny took off as silently as he was watching, they had a ghost problem, one dealing with misery, maybe Cedric could help somehow...

* * *

Danny didn't want to lie to his friends, but he needed to play 'dejected and angry' from his time with Spectra, keeping the pickle ghost's voice in his head as Tucker inquired. "Dude, you OK?"

"I'm fine. I can't believe my sister told that shrink I'm a loser." Sam was, at least, a bit skeptic as she asked.

"Are you sure Jazz said that? That doesn't sound like Jazz to me." The pair shared a look and Sam knew the answer, Jazz DIDN'T say a single thing, only Penelope's word was given as Jazz arrived in greeting as she walked toward them, bringing them to a stop.

"Hey, you guys. What doesn't sound like Jazz to you?" Danny frowned, the standard if Cedric hadn't helped him control his emotions a bit more would have been a scowl, the fourth friend at 'home' and tutoring Talia on some manners of the modern day as Jazz commented. "Still mad?"

"Wow, you _are _the smart one, talking to her loser brother." Jazz got defensive as she exclaimed.

"You are not a loser!" Danny smirked and somehow Sam and Tucker felt the joy in Danny as well as Jazz approached him in concern. "Danny, I know you're angry, but I'm worried about you. Ever since the accident-"

"Jazz, I know you _think _you're helping, and I'm sure when I'm older, I'll appreciate it, but right now, I don't." Danny cut her off as Jazz countered with irritation.

"You have to talk to somebody, Danny. You barely have any friends." Sam and Tucker frowned as Jazz continued. "Besides these two. And you have absolutely no extracurricular activities." The pair of friends shared in whisper of 'Unless you count the ghosts' and 'Shut it', Danny hearing it as he focused on Jazz.

"Well, maybe this is me now, huh? Not everyone's pumped up full of spirit all the time, you know." Suddenly his ghost sense went off as he quietly exclaimed. "Ghost sense? I don't see anything." He started to shake as Jazz grew worried for him.

"Danny? You're shivering." Interested in getting some distance before something bad happened, Danny shouted as he took off out of reach.

"Leave me alone!"

"It's worse than I thought." Jazz commented before a random kid grabbed her arms and shouted in terror as he pointed the other way.

"A freakishly large hornet!" He screamed and slammed the locker door that he jumped into, yelped at his now-slammed leg that was sticking out before Jazz gasped and people ran for it as the 'freakishly large hornet' came into sight from around the corner and looked at Jazz to which she screamed, but was snatched up and licked across her face, it was DEFINITELY real before another voice shouted.

"Back off, ghost bug!" The bug looked up before phasing through a door with a white-haired boy in pursuit, phasing through as well as Jazz yelped.

"Ghost bug? Wait a minute, that was a ghost? That was two ghosts?" The chase ended in the schoolyard as Danny remarked to his foe.

"Somebody called for an exterminator?"

"My, you are clever, aren't you? Swat this, big boy." Danny was not sure how to feel about that, but Betrand came at him with the stinger and, while first instinct was to guard, Danny slid to the left before slamming a fist into the abdomen, the bug yelped from the intense punch. "What the heck, you were ready for that!?"

"It's not so tough, when you know how to fight." Bertrand made to strike again, but Danny threw up a shield as the bug went slamming into it before Danny quickly pulled out the Thermos and spoke again. "Alright, pal! Time for you to-" He stopped as the bug was nowhere in sight before he face-palmed. "Gone. Great. Another bad guy gets away." He motioned as he continued. "No, it's the same guy, so he should be still here, just in hiding." He huffed, heedless of Jazz peering out to him as he remarked. "Maybe Jazz was right. Maybe I am a bit of a loser, though not her words still." He took off in flight as Jazz turned away in shock.

"A ghost?" She started to beam as she exclaimed. "Wait'll I tell Danny!"

* * *

"What do you mean, you didn't see a ghost?" Jazz inquired as she found and cornered Danny at the dinner table as he slumped a bit forward in listening before giving his 'input'

"It didn't look like a ghost to me. It just looked like a big bug. So I ran." He bit back the final line of 'Like a looooser.' and used a different line. "You know, like all of the non-believers of ghosts."

"I was right. You're not going to listen to me, are you?" Danny propped his head as he replied.

"Nope." He added to it as he explained. "I have more... troubling things on my mind right now, Jazz, than some 'giant ghost hornet'."

"Well, you don't leave me any choice." Danny cocked a brow before he straightened up in surprise as Jazz CLEARLY just involved their parents with the problem with a shout. "Mom! Dad! Can I talk to you about Danny?

"What? Jazz, no!" Both of the Fenton folks rushed in with Jack holding a new weapon in hand, reminding Danny of those phaser weapons from the movies.

"Is there something wrong with Danny?"

"Is there a ghost involved?" Maddie got all up in Danny's grill as she inquired.

"Is there something you want to talk about?"

"That involves ghosts?" Danny was grasping at straws as he stammered.

"I...I..." He stopped before he redirected the conversation, his problem was 'nothing' to Jazz ACTUALLY seeing a ghost now, was it? "...Actually, yes. Jazz thinks she saw a ghost today." He smiled with some smug as he continued. "Tell them, Jazz." Jazz looked trapped from the statement as Maddie exclaimed.

"WHAT?" Maddie switched over with a leapfrog over Danny and getting into Jazz's grill as she exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"It would have been a good chance to try out the portable Fenton Ghost Peeler." The tool gleamed as Jack explained it out. "It tears ghosts apart atom by atom!" He aimed it and pressed a red button on it which adorned Jack Fenton in a full suit of metal and a clear face-plate before he overbalanced and toppled onto the table, destroying it as Danny got up with a cheer and spoke.

"Well, enjoy your chat!" Jazz just groaned at the subject change that just happened, she wanted to get to the bottom of this whole thing and why Danny was not just... avoiding any details about what was happening in his life...

* * *

Since Cedric was still not in school, (but still passing his classes SOMEHOW), Jazz turned to the next best things, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, as she cornered them as they were weirded-out on how Jazz just decided this and spoke. "Don't you think he's been acting weird?" The pair exchanged a glance as Jazz continued. "I mean, haven't you noticed how gloomy and negative he's been lately?"

"Uh, Jazz, we're Danny's friends. That means we keep _his _secrets _from _you." Tucker was a simple soul to get details from as Jazz reached into her purse and offered twenty dollars, the dollar sign appearing in the tech boy's eyes as he spoke. "Although..." Sam, just as quickly, snatched the bill away and gave it back to Jazz as she spoke, the tougher of the two friends from Jazz's current position.

"We've all got our problems, Jazz. I know you're worried, but Danny's OK." Danny was close by as he walked over to the drinking fountain and drank from it as a strap from his pack was taken and put on the fire alarm as Sam continued. "He keeps some things to himself, but it's not like he's doing anything criminal." He paused before reaching behind, stopping with a grimace as he shouted to the pair.

"Hey guys!" The trio looked over, just as confused as somehow, Danny's pack was on the fire alarm handle and if he had tried to walk off, he would have pulled the alarm. "A little help here?" They nodded as they helped him out, Jazz just imagining what would have happened if Danny did walk away, it would have been a mark toward criminal as the whole school would have been doused in water and called who knows how many people out to investigate...

* * *

That didn't help him as he found himself in the worse position with a sigh, somehow getting roped up in it as he questioned with an unhappy look. "And this is supposed to help me how?" He was dressed in knee socks, a sash of 'SPIRIT' over his t-shirt, and a diaper with a black top hat on his head as Spectra remarked.

"We're gonna help you overcome your fear of being called a baby." Danny sat down as he directed his thoughts elsewhere.

"I'm not afraid of being called a baby. I'm afraid of... being called a loser."

"Ahh, and therein lies the problem. You care too much what other people think." That example came from the entrance of three jocks, their leader Dash as he spoke with the trio holding boxes.

"Where do you want us to put these banners up, Ms.-" They stopped before Dash smirked and remarked. "Hey guys, check it out. It's the Casper High Spirit Baby." They all laughed as Danny huffed with resign.

"Of course." He slumped forward and Spectra touched his shoulder, her aging features slipping back to youth, something she didn't notice that Danny did, a smirk a bloom in his heart, she was a ghost herself and she would face the ultimate foe, someone who KNEW how to fight...

* * *

Calling up Cedric, Danny gave a location as he changed back and played the depressed fool as the trio, still out and about, overheard Valerie and Kwan talking at the counter for ice cream. "I don't know. Ms. Spectra says I worry way too much about material possessions."

"At least you'll have them. Spectra says I'm going to grow old, broke, and alone." The pair walked past with the trio at a table, Tucker enjoying his ice cream, Sam with a square of tofu on her cone as Danny cocked a brow on how exactly that worked with propped chin as Tucker mused about the baby suit.

"Man, it was brutal making you wear that stupid baby suit. I could hardly watch. Though I did get some good digital pics." He showed his PDA to Danny of one picture where he was being laughed at before he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Hey, whose side are you on, anyway?"

"Danny, come on, you know he's kidding."

"Ah- Yeah, I know." Danny huffed as he mused, he was perfectly fine now that he knew the trick and easily countered the demeaning remarks and comments of Spectra's as he mused. "I don't get it." He voiced as he sat back up again slightly. "Why am I so depressed and angry all the time? That shrink was supposed to be helping me. Ever since I started talking to her, I've been feeling worse." The moment was shattered as Jazz arrived and walked up to them in greeting.

"Hey Danny, how's it going?" Danny played the crossed game as he replied.

"Like you care. Just go away, Jazz." His ghost sense went off and he grimaced. "Oh, no." He glanced over to Paulina, where the feeling was coming from, as she was powdering her face and scolding the elderly store clerk, but the real threat came when Bertrand emerged from the flooring behind her. Danny quickly thinking up a plan of action, but first...

"Gotta keep Jazz busy." He glanced over to his friends and shortly regretted what he was going to do to them as he glared at them with accuse. "Yeah, well, if you're gonna take her side, then you hang with her too!" He, just as swiftly, switched places with Jazz as he continued to play 'hurt' and be dramatic. "Here, take my seat, you've already taken my friends." He raced off through the back door of the pharmacy before Jazz recovered enough to yell.

"Danny, wait!" Jumping out of the seat, she raced after thim before Sam exclaimed as well.

"Come on!" She snatched Tucker's wrist and both rushed away so fast that the tofu cone was still spinning as Jazz made it to the back door and pondered.

"He went this way." She peered through with a cracked-open door as she wondered what Danny was up to. "I'm sure I can head him off." She stopped as there was a level of determination in Danny's eyes as he peered about the alley before a white ring formed around him, traveling across his body and leaving in his place the SAME ghost that she saw save her from the hornet and float there, she gasping to his unheard departure as he took off to the air and flew, the pair of Sam and Tucker traveling up the alley as they looked up as well before Jazz finally found the words that she couldn't muster at that moment. "Danny?!" By that time, Jazz fully emerged from the cracked open door and gazed up in surprise before her presence was finally noticed by Tucker then Sam as she went off in total shock. "Did you see that?" She exclaimed as she rushed over to them. "Tell me I didn't see what I just saw."

Tucker was cringing as he exclaimed. "It's not what you think, Jazz." Taking that moment, Sam slammed the ice cream that Tucker still had in hand into his mouth as she spoke up.

"Of _course _it's not. Ghosts aren't real. Jazz, you sound like your father." Jazz looked at them in question before growing suspicious about their behavior before their echoes filled her head.

'He keeps some things to himself.'

'We're Danny's friends. That means we keep his secrets from you.' That stopped her from flipping out with widened eyes, they knew now that she SAW Danny transform into... what, a ghost, a semi-ghost? Maybe Cedric could grace her with some details later when she found him, but for now she could see and know that what Sam and Tucker were doing was covering for Danny, TRYING to dissuade her from believing in ghosts when she was NEARLY the menu item for a big bug ghost, that can change someone's opinion about it. Sam spoke up to Jazz's silence.

"...Jazz?"

"Oh. Oh, of course!" She faked a laugh as she continued to follow the train of thought, playing along to their hopes. "My parents are such loons, it's rubbing off!" She blabbed on and checked her watch. "Oh my gosh, is it that late? I've gotta work on my Spirit Week speech." She ran off and the pair finally let out a breath as Danny flew in to Bertrand's creepy loom, Paulina cluing in as she started.

"Do you mind? I was here-" She whispered the last in terror. "-first?" Bertrand roared and both Paulina and clerk screamed as Danny zipped in and knocked Bertrand away as the ghost growled at him before Danny sassed him.

"I know you need your makeup, but you're just gonna have to wait your turn." He blocked a backhand attempt and soared to the side as an ectoblast vaporized a book display, that action causing panic in the shoppers as Danny dodged some more while getting a few good shots in before he was bashed into a wall of backpacks.

"You're not very good at this, are you?" Danny got up as he sassed back.

"Well, we can't ALL be perfect, now can we, Deli Pickle?" Instead of joy of getting the frustration of a teenager, Bertrand growled as he took on a wolf form and leapt at Danny, caught the ghostly tail that Danny got for speed and managed to corner him as he mused with concern. "Then again-"

"Hey, get away from him!" The wolf faced the pair of friends and got ready to attack as Tucker quickly stammered. "Or, don't. Seriously, it's open for discussion."

"No! You leave them alone!" Danny tackled the wolf and they rolled before Danny ended up underneath the wolf as it mocked him in his attempts to get up.

"Oh, look. The little loser ghost has a few baby helpers." That should have set Danny off at such an insult...

...But he didn't as he remembered something else that he could do; painful, but it was WELL worth the attempt. "What does that make you, the dwarf of misery?" This surprised the wolf as Danny thrust his hand and blasted, the green blast brighter and he stifled a whine of pain, but the canine yelp of pain was worth it as he continued. "Any more insults you want to try?" He aimed and Bertrand dodged to the side, the blast not leaving Danny's hand as the wolf slipped back to its pickle-like form and remarked.

"Well, that's enough damage for one afternoon." He flew out of the ruined pharmacy with a phase through the ceiling. "Ta-ta!" What no one noticed was Jazz looking at the site, her eyes lingering on the spot where the ghost disappeared off through before landing her gaze on Danny as Tucker remarked to the damages.

"I sure hope they're insured." Danny looked dejected than before as he groaned.

"Great, he got away again. Another ringing endorsement for the town screw-up." He flew off and the pair of friends shared a look of upset, but no more than Jazz watching him fly away with an unhappy look, how long has he been suffering without anyone knowing his problem really...?

* * *

Night fell over the Fenton household as Danny tampered with his untouched food as he thought about it a bit before Jazz walked in and stared, this drawing his attention as he questioned. "What?"

"Nothing." She answered as she walked over, leaning forward to survey him closer before pinching him, he yelping as he exclaimed again.

"Ugh! What?!"

"Nothing!" Danny raised a brow as he rubbed his pinched arm, it was painful... could ghosts fully feel pain, that was something they needed to know as she spoke to his frown and taking a seat at the table. "Uh, so, uh, Danny, I know I've been kind of hard on you lately, but you know I think you're great, right?"

"Yeah right. That's not what I hear."

"Then you've heard wrong." Danny hummed as Jazz continued. "Look, I know you think I'm pushy and I'm a know-it-all. I know you think I can be a jerk sometimes..." Danny just smiled at her as Jazz huffed. "...You know, you can stop me at any time."

"I know, Jazz." She sighed as she continued.

"All I'm saying is I'm your sister and I care about you." She rested a hand on his shoulder as she continued. "And even though you don't think I'll understand, you can talk to me about _anything_." Danny looked to the side as he pondered it, it would be far better to have someone else know his problems and be willing to listen.

"Um..." Suddenly, there was a loud crash, startling the pair of them as they ran over to see that the couch was now destroyed and smoking in the living room while Jack was in the armor of the Peeler and Maddie observing as well.

"I'm just saying, if we can find that ghost at Jazz's school, we're gonna peel that ghost like an onion!"

"Well, we can't completely vaporize it. Don't you want to at least examine the remains?" Danny looked shaken before he noticed the hand on his shoulder, the first impulse to shake it off while Jack hid his own thoughts with a look of solid determination.

"I don't feel like really talking about it. It's complicated." He slipped free and crossed his arms in sulk as Jazz answered with resign.

"Yeah, I'd imagine not." Still, she walked over and planted a kiss on top of his head before walking away, Danny surprised before a smile lit up after her as he mused.

"Thanks, Jazz." he stopped before he reacted how any little brother would react to their sister just kissing them on the cheek or head. "Oh, gross!"

* * *

The trio headed through Casper High and stopped at Danny's locker before Sam spoke to the changed atmosphere. "Uh, is it just me, or is this the worst Spirit Week in the history of Casper High Spirit Weeks?" It was true as the students all looked depressed and miserable as the trio caught a few conversations that were less than joyful for Spirit Week.

"Another day, another twenty-four hours closer to a career of pumping gas."

"At least you'll have a job. Apparently, I'm gonna end up a hobo. I didn't even know they had hobos anymore!" That was Dash and Kwan standing around as the pair of Paulina and Valerie walked past.

"Did you know wrinkles can start emerging at your mid-twenties?" Danny added to it as it seemed a bit TOO setup.

"And to make it worse, we're all gonna have to sit through Jazz's idiotic speech when she tries to put the 'I' back in 'spirit' or some other nonsense." They glanced down to find that Jazz was just as happy as usual as Danny commented. "What the heck is she so happy about?" Sam shrugged as she spoke up.

"Don't ask me. I'm usually the sour one around here. But compared to everyone else, I'm the goth bird of happiness."

"Me too! And we're the only two people in this school who _haven't_ had a session with Dr. Spectra." The puzzle click into place as Danny spoke up with the same realization. Each one of the depressed people had attended a meeting with Spectra and grew more miserable as the puzzle continued to his own understanding.

"Wait a minute." He grabbed Tucker's PDA and checked it for something to support his theory. "Let me see something." He opened one of the photos that had him in the 'Spirit Baby' outfit as Tucker stammered.

"Uh... I was gonna delete that."

"Glad you didn't. Look at that." At first glance, nothing stood out, but looking closer and Danny giving a zoom, his breath was seen and blue as he continued. "I kept thinking I was seeing my breath. That it was cold. But what if that's my ghost sense? What if Spectra is somehow making people _more _miserable? What if she's a ghost?"

"Only one way to find out." They headed out before stopping at a surprised sound.

"How are you so impossible to just get to the bottom of!?" Danny, Sam, and Tucker shared a look before they glanced into the office to find Cedric; a look of neutral displeasure on his face, arms crossed, and clearly having the home-field as Spectra looked really... terrible, hair frizzled, body shaking in disbelief, and hands gripping the wood with a confused rage that they dug down before Cedric spoke.

"I have dealt with SO many therapists in the past that I can see where the twists and turns can be found. You don't even hide your intentions to digging down for my insecurities, that's a terrible role for such a vain person."

"VAIN!?" Penelope's eye twitched as the human form slipped away and was replaced by a black specter as she screeched in his face. "You will not tell me what you believe, you runt! HOW DO YOU NOT HAVE ANY WEAKNESS THAT I CAN DRAW FROM!?"

"Because I have long resolved my own issues and I have come to depend on those that I have faith in. Now get yourself together before I make a move." Spectra, just as quickly, shut down and slipped into the seat in the human form as she cleared her throat, the trio surprised to the change as Spectra spoke.

"You are a foe I have never faced, and you clearly know how to face my ghostly power, what is it that you have need from me?"

"That's a tall order and I will speak about it, but for now, I'll leave you to your own devices, but know that you should be more careful of who knows." Cedric got up and headed out, the trio bracing against the wall as they caught a bit more from the pair.

"You understand that I can't exist without negative emotions, I need it, boy."

"So what... If you could get energy from both the negative and the positive, would that give you a better role and make you less hostile to the world around you?" Cedric left and Danny waited before he transformed, sending the pair off to the gym as he contended to learning more of Spectra as she stood in the center of the room, heedless of the invisible hybrid watching, with a green swirl in the air before she motioned it in, her youth returning as she breathed, sitting on the desk as she mused.

"Ahhh. Man, that's good. I'm gonna miss these kids." She shifted through the files on the desk, Paulina and Valerie on the top instead of his friends as she mused. "They're a waterfall of misery." Bertrand arrived from one of the walls and Spectra spoke as she inquired. "There you are. You hooked up the device?"

"Of course. And when the spirit sparklers go up, vaporizing the only chipper kid left in the entire school, there'll be enough misery and anguish in that room to keep us looking young forever!" Danny quietly gasped at the vile plan before the bell rang, drawing all of their attention before Spectra spoke again.

"Well, there's the bell. Shall we go hear a speech and bum some more kids out?" The two merged together as an orb of ecto-energy and zapping out of there as Danny landed with turning visible again as he made to piece out who would be the target. He looked through the files and saw everyone, including Cedric, Sam, and Tucker, but they were not involved with Spectra from the get-go or couldn't be affected, so who...

He stopped and searched once more before it was apparent that one was not involved and it was the one before him as he exclaimed her name, his sister's "Jazz!" He took off to find Spectra and her aide, they were not going to get away with this...

* * *

The cheer in the gym was lackluster as Lancer yelled at the dismissive behavior. "Hey! What's the matter with you kids! You call that a cheer?" He took a pair of pom-poms before cheering with enthusiasm. "We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got the spirit, how 'bout you!?" But no one said a thing, the sound of crickets the only sound heard if any as Jazz commented from the podium.

"OK..." On the path of the gym, Bertrand and Spectra conversed as he asked.

"After we've destroyed everything, you up for a cappuccino?"

"Ooh, that's a marvelous idea-" Suddenly, Bertrand was blasted and Spectra glanced over in surprise to Phantom hovering in the hall behind her as he spoke.

"I figured it out, finally. You feed on misery, don't you?"

"I'm sorry, can I help you?"

"No, I'm sure you can't. You can't help anyone except yourself." She lunged, but he dodged out of the way before hovering behind her as he spoke, her rage slipping to amusement to Danny's words. "You find that one thing that a kid's most afraid of - their future, their looks, their confidence -" He paused before puffing out his chest as he continued. "...and you pick at it and pick at it while your snippy little ghost assistant feeds on it!"

"Hey!" Bertrand yelped as Spectra just clapped.

"Very good." Her green eyes flashed red and Danny readied as she exclaimed. "But I fear you've missed a few details!" The ring of fire that formed around her erupted into violet smoke and she emerged as the specter as Danny was ready, but he was knocked out of the school by Bertrand, who took the moment to change to his wolf form and tackle them outside while back in the gym, Jazz started her speech on the podium, Tucker and Sam a bit skeptical to the twin rays that were set up for the 'spirit sparklers' and a wide array of dominoes set up for the speech and time.

"In this, our centennial year, we pay tribute to the past with these ceremonial dominoes, each of which will fall into the next and finally trigger the ceremonial spirit sparklers." Silence filled as Jazz gestured to the rays before Lancer spoke up with a small cheer.

"Woooo!" Sam and Tucker gave off uneasy 'wooo's' before Lancer reached down and knocked the domino, the reaction apparent as, outside, Bertrand slammed Danny into a tree and ridiculed him.

"You thought you were going to stop us? _You_? You're just a frightened little kid!" He made to swipe at Danny, but the hybrid slipped away through the tree and left Bertrand confused before he was slammed back with a punch from underneath as Danny paused before he was grabbed from around his neck by Spectra as he yelled.

"Let go of me!"

"Why would I do that? Your doubt, your misery, it's delicious." She forced them to fly up to the window that looked into the gym and the toppling dominoes. "And the best part is, as soon as that silly speech is over, and that last domino falls and the sparklers vaporize the speaker, we'll leave you here to take the blame. And by the time I'm done with you, you'll be sure it was all your fault!"

"Man, I am so tired of you dumping on me." Danny growled as he continued, casting a glance to his sister. "And I am so tired of dumping on myself. Jazz never did that, even when I was mad at her." His energy built before he used it in a burst to blast Spectra off. "And I won't let her down!" Spectra called out to her partner.

"Bertrand! Sic him!" The wolf charged out from the building and changed into a ninja to which Danny gave a flat look of boredom as he pulled out a pair of nunchucks, whirled them, and readied as Danny mused.

"I so don't have time for this." He pulled the Thermos off his back and uncapped it, absorbing Bertrand as he yelled.

"No! Aaaahhhh!" He capped it and shook it with a single word for the minor victory.

"Arg..." Spectra screeched as she lunged for him.

"You're through!"

"And you're done telling me what to do!" He dodged in flying against her and snatched her by the tail before hurling her into a nearby dumpster, giving a smile before he exclaimed. "Jazz!" He soared through as the final dominoes hit the switch and the rays readied to vaporize Jazz before Danny crashed into her, turning her intangible as well and passing through the next wall as the podium was reduced to ash before the pair landed in the back hallway and stared at each other before Spectra snatched Danny again and pulled him into a storage room as she next seized his head as she lectured with bitterness her venom.

"Look at you." He tried to catch her, but she whacked the Thermos out of his hand as she continued to dig into his own being and doubt. "What are you? A ghost trying to fit in with humans? Or some creepy little boy with creepy little powers?" Jazz arrived to the doorway with fists clenched in anger as Danny exclaimed.

"Both! Uh... neither! I don't know."

"You're a freak! Not a ghost, not a boy!" Danny glowed green to which Spectra stole from as she just let him drop and mock him in his dazed state. "Who cares for a thing like you?"

"Excuse me." Danny looked up in surprise and Spectra with the same surprise as Jazz continued. "I don't know this kid, but I hope it's OK if he gets a second opinion." She held up the Peeler and activated it as armor started to encase her before she commented with some surprise. "...This is weird." The suit sealed and she fired at Spectra, the specter screaming as her own skin was shredded off her and reducing her to a wizened old woman as Danny answered in surprise, it ACTUALLY did peel Spectra like an onion.

"Talk about having nothing within." Spectra felt her features before screeching in a more aged voice.

"Aaahh, nooo! I am nothing without my youth!" She screamed as Danny retrieved the Thermos and sucked her in as the armor returned to the Peeler as Jazz commented.

"Hey, it worked! But it's still weird." She walked up to Danny as he paused from flinching before he spoke with a short stammer.

"Uh... uh... Thanks, Jazz, and I'm sorry for being so hard on you these few days."

"No problem, I'm glad that you are... willing to talk about it, but first..." She paused before taking on a look of fake fear. "Ahhh. Ghost." Danny face-palmed with a smile as Jazz headed over to the door and turned as she spoke. "You'd better go." Danny breathed with a nod before he turned, slamming into a stack of boxes as he commented.

"Oh. Uh, right." Turning intangible, he took flight and Jazz turned back as she mused.

"He can tell me about it later."

"Miss Fenton," Mr. Lancer came bounding down the hall as he exclaimed. "you're needed." Jazz paused before following to the flow of cheers with her name, surprised that the somber depression disappeared completely as she even caught Tucker yelling that 'she's OK' before Lancer continued. "Ahh, everybody's mood has lifted, as though some gloomy malevolence has been shooed away." Danny waved from the bleachers and Jazz smiled as Lancer continued as the pair of them waved back to the cheering party. "Your disappearing act worked marvelously. They've got their spirit back." Jazz commented in returned as she too was glad for the change.

"They're not the only ones, Mr. Lancer. They're not the only ones." Later, at that night, Jazz watched as Danny flew high and enjoyed the air around him as she smiled with a small turn and nodded as she then took out a meeting time, meant for her and Danny's friends...

* * *

How Danny and Jazz were going about it was that he would tell her and they just move on, they were not ready for the detailed presentation that Cedric had set up, he all serious while his... 'girl?' was cracking up with clasped hand and widened eyes. "...While most people would disregard this very notion of existing on both sides of the wide spectrum of human and ghost, there is a unique sub-type in the blood of several humans that possess the right levels of exposure that a sudden surge of ten to fifteen hundred volts of ecto-plasmic energy would not pull them into the Zone or kick them into the Real World, but create a unique species known as a Demi, able to live fully as human with reduced bio-metrics and exist as a ghost with all the unique abilities that their cores and the addition of the spinal 'Leylines' can provide." Sam and Tucker were just as in awe and disturbed about it that Cedric had taken one of the science labs and converted it into his presentation as he continued. "Ghosts are naturally bound to the form that they both covet and hold dear unless a severe change was pressured on them, but both sides age and develop the same if they wish it in the Zone and naturally in the Real World, there is further detail about an epidemic throughout the Zone, dated back to a thousand years and finally fading out, that has rendered ghosts unable to..."

"LA LA LA LA LA!" Danny yelled suddenly with covering hands as the girl lost it, toppling to the ground and pounding the floor in fits of laughter as Sam groaned with a blush and Tucker just moaned with covering his face with the hat fully as Jazz just rested her face in her hands as Danny continued. "I'M NOT LISTENING, I'M NOT LISTENING!" Cedric huffed as he stopped and rested his hands on his hips as he spoke, doing little to stop the girl from laughing.

"Now that's hurtful, you wanted me to give Jasmine a place in our small group about this big secret and I am giving it!"

"In a Sex Ed lesson!?" Danny exclaimed as he jumped to his feet in desperation. "I would have been just okay with just showing her and having her relating my appearance with being Phantom as well, but this is TOO MUCH!"

"Though... VERY informative..." Jazz cleared her throat as she stood up as well and spoke. "I just want to know what we could be facing if it ever comes down to it, maybe work on my own skills since this is going to be a recurring event for Amity." Cedric sighed as he answered.

"Okay, okay, I can narrow it down." He turned and tapped the laughing ball as he spoke. "And Talia, you know that I was just working with what you shared with me."

"I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE GOING TO BE SO IN-DEPTH ABOUT IT!" She continued to laugh as Cedric rubbed his temples before turning to the group as the tension lessened.

"Okay, then I'll get to the big subjects and, if you want reference later, just ask or write it down, need to keep it memorized somehow." With that, Cedric went over it and skipped the awkward slides, how did he manage it like a teacher in the first place and make it so interesting that their attention was fully on what he talked about...?


	10. S1 - Shades of Gray

Casper High was a place of learning and culture that all through Amity Park came to accept, but today was just the same as the doors from one of the rooms was slammed opened to Danny screaming before he booked it out of there with Dash Baxter in pursuit, roaring with a roll of paper in hand before taking off as well as Danny huffed in fear, secretly wishing that Poindexter could help him out, but remembered that Poindexter was elsewhere in the Zone, his nightmare over and his home a quaint condo. "Moving... Gotta keep moving!" He gasped with a look behind as Dash yelled.

"That's it, Fen-ton! Run! But I'm taking this D I got on our spelling test out of your hide!"

"Every time he fails, he comes after me!" Dash roared as, ahead of them, three of the populars were talking to each other as Paulina commented to the new look of Valerie Gray.

"Hey, Valerie. Like, I so much love that top!" She took a sip from the coffee cup she had as Valerie started.

"Isn't it Swe-e-et? Five hundred and seventy-nine dollars and worth every one of my dad's pennies." She stopped in surprise as Danny rounded the corner, looking back back before looking forward and yelling as he tried to come to a stop, but he slammed into Paulina and splashed Valerie with coffee, causing her to screech at the ruined top and event before she directed her rage to Kwan for a simple reason. "Please hit the unpopular boy for me!"

"Hey, accidents happen." But Valerie didn't accepted as she growled with pulling him down to her level and he quickly agreed. "Alright, Alright." The pair glanced to Danny as he got back up with a sentence.

"I'm so sorry and I would apologize for the mess, but I got Dash on my butt, so maybe later!" He booked it as Kwan yelled his name of 'FENTON!' on Valerie's request and started to chase him, Dash coming from one end and Kwan on the other before Danny realized something. "Wait a minute! I have ghost Powers." He smiled as he turned intangible and dove into the tile, leaving the pair of jocks to slam into each other as he came out at the parking lot and took a few seconds to breathe. "Man, that was close." His breath then released in a blue mist and he glanced behind him to find the ghost before a small green dog approached him and he he picked it up with a smile, taking note of the dog tag it had of a 'A' and what must be four electrons on it as it started to lick him as he spoke. "It's like Dash, but with better breath. Now this I can handle." He put the dog down and nearly had a plan before the dog expanded into a huge beast of a dog and Danny grimaced as it glared at him. "...Or not." He changed forms and took flight as the dog plowed downtown to a large and fancy-looking lab...

* * *

Touring the Axion Labs, Damon Gray, Valerie's father spoke of all the things the lab had to keep any intruder out as Valerie followed behind with two burly guards behind her. "Digital surveillance, retinal scanning access portals, titanium doors, laser deterrents. As promised, this is the most secure facility in the United States." The door slammed shut behind them as the head of the labs remarked.

"Well done, Damon. You can feel free to bill me for the remainder of your fee."

"Which means, I can replace this top." Valerie mused with glee as the boss continued in his praise.

"It's good to know those smelly security dogs are a thing of the past." Suddenly barking echoed behind them and they looked back just as the last door suffered severe pounding from something before bursting open and Danny Phantom crashing in front of them before Valerie exclaimed.

"What are you?!"

"Not the time and NOT your average teen." A stomp drew everyone's attention to the monster of a dog that glowed green as Danny continued. "...And THAT is not your average bloodhound!" It shook its head and flung saliva everywhere, getting Valerie as Danny took the time to get up and comment. "Also I'll tell you what I'm not: Coated with dog saliva." Valerie screamed in rage, but Danny quickly tackled her out of the way of the ghost beast leaping over them and Danny calling out as he got back up. "Bad dog! No! Get back here!" The two of them phased through the door as the dog tore through the room before Danny exclaimed once more. "Come on!" He leapt and got a hold on the dog collar, but it was impossible as he yelled from holding on. "Slow down!" The entrance opened as the guards that were escorting the trio shouted to the rampaging behemoth.

"Halt! Halt!" They fired at the pair, but ended up destroying more of the lab as Danny exclaimed.

"Cut it out, you stupid mutt! Why won't you listen at all! I thought dogs were man's best friend!" The damages from the shots finally brought down a catwalk as Damon exclaimed, none of them hearing what Danny had just told them.

"Stand back everybody. This state-of-the-art security system can stop anything." He activated the security system, but no one even saw the pair get hurt or touched, like they were ghosts or something as the pair went intangible to the dog's will and even slipped past a fired net before escaping outside, the boss focusing on the fact that the system didn't work as intended.

"Except a pasty-faced teenager and his dog."

"I'm fired, aren't I?"

"You're not just fired, you're ruined." Damon and Valerie looked at each other on how their lives just changed so severely...

* * *

Later that day, the four friends arrived to the Gray house to find everything on sale for a yard sale, Cedric having a license for his custom-made, open-top jeep as Talia sat in the front before Sam remarked from the back seat, standing up from the back. "Whoa! Talk about rock bottom! They're selling everything they own at a yard sale." She wasn't sure how the jeep moved, but it was sure effective and not as toxic as conventional fuels as Danny joined in looking as the Jeep stopped in front of the house, blocking all of the things from getting messy if someone were to drive by on a pond of water or something as Danny leaned on the side in remorse as he spoke, the trio getting out as they stayed with the jeep while the two in the front just observed.

"I feel bad. If I could have stopped that ghost dog, none of this would have happened." Damon came out and put down a box of family photos before heading back in as Tucker commented.

"She's having a hard week." He brightened up as both Cedric and Talia just face-palmed at how 'God's Gift' had returned to make a mess. "Which means I can catch get her on the rebound! Sweet!" They shook their heads as Valerie came out with a box of her clothes to which Tucker rushed over to help as he spoke. "Hey, Val. I heard what happened."

"Oh, great. Word's already moved down to the bottom of the social grapevine." Valerie hissed as Cedric got out and Talia just relaxed as Danny came over with a remark.

"Hey, come on. I know you're upset. But he just wants to help. We all do."

"I don't..." Sam answered as Danny frowned at her before she exclaimed. "I'm a GOTH, we are morbid people, okay!?" Danny turned back with a smile as Tucker added to it.

"Most of us do. More than two-thirds." Valerie didn't really trust that as she mused.

"Thanks, but I'll pass." Suddenly, a blue vapor slipped out of Danny's mouth and Valerie near-jumped. "What the...?" Danny quickly spoke.

"I'm gonna have to pass too." He booked it down the sidewalk, the trio surprised with his sudden speed, much faster than when the jocks were chasing him before the ground rumbled and Cedric checked his wrist with a exclaim.

"Um, you might want to get back." They did so as the ground erupted with ghost dog in tow as things went everywhere, Talia looking up before gasping as Cedric got over and questioned. "Sorry, I should have installed that roof."

"I am more dismayed with her choice of material." Talia replied as the clothes that were Valerie's were in the jeep now. "Have you ever heard of ACTUAL silk or just cotton?" Valerie gave a confused look as the giant dog... started to sniff the ground as Talia spoke. "What the...?"

"It's looking for something... but what...?" Cedric shared a glance with Talia as Danny arrived as Phantom and exclaimed as he turned tangible.

"How'd you get out of the Ghost Zone?" The beast tilted its head before growling at Danny to which he scratched his chin, bring it to a calm as it panted and turned back into the small dog as Danny floated over and commented. "Ghost dogs are more entertaining than regular dogs." He landed with a 'swish' and he grimaced as he lifted his booted foot. "Great. Invisible dog do." Valerie stomped over as she yelled at the pair in front of her home.

"Whatever you are, get out of here! You and your stupid dog have done enough!" The dog, on the other hand, was not done as he bit into Danny's lifted leg and started to pull him all over the place as Valerie exclaimed. "How the heck...?"

"Don't question it too hard, we are still trying to figure it out ourselves." Cedric answered with a look of deadpan remark as Danny called out.

"Come on, boy! Not again!" The moving van door closed as Danny tried to keep the damage minimized, but it was in vain as the five of them watched as bulges appeared in the van before Danny lifted off, flying in the air to Valerie's disbelief as he voiced. "Oh, that's not good, but I got nothing to fix, so I will just toss this dog back into where it belongs and hopefully stays." He bolted as the door opened to Damon looking into the van in confusion.

"What's going on here?" The whole stockpile of things was ruined, but that made Valerie more suspicious as she exclaimed.

"I don't know. But I'm gonna find out." At the Fenton Works, Danny approached the metal doors of the Ghost Portal as they opened before he exclaimed with the dog in hand.

"Okay, Cujo! In you go!" The toss flew true as the green suck in the dog with a few yips and the doors closed as Danny continued with green drool dripping form his hands as he spoke. "Yuck! That's it, I'm getting a hamster." He headed out, but no sooner did he than the ghost dog he named Cujo suddenly pop right back in and took flight out of there while back at school, things changed permanently for Valerie. The popular kids table discussing as Paulina lead off, all three of them wearing black shirts for the band 'Dumpty-Humpty'.

"Oh my gosh! Wait till you see what I'm wearing to the concert. I'm gonna look better than ever!"

"Man, I've been waiting weeks for this! Dumpty-Humpty rocks!" Dash made to do an air-guitar before Valerie arrived with a brown bag in hand, the trio glancing to her as Kwan started.

"Hey, Val! We're down for the concert, right?"

"Sorry guys. I had to sell my tickets online to help pay for the moving truck." She huffed with the brown bag in hand. "Things are kind of tight now, you know."

"No."

"Nuh-uh."

"Not really." She made to sit down, but Dash blocked her as she spoke.

"Speaking of tight...!" He glanced over to the other table where Danny and Tucker were stuffing their faces with a disgusted Sam in the middle as Valerie gasped before she grumbled.

"I get it."

"Hey, Valerie. Did you at least sell your tickets to somebody cool? We don't want to have to sit next to any losers at the concert!" Paulina remarked and Valerie was defeated in shame before all stopped with a crack in the air, the popular kids slowly turning their heads, even Valerie, as the glare that Cedric gave COULD kill as he spoke from the archway, Talia behind him with a frown as well as he made his way over to the trio.

"Is that right, you three?" They straightened up as Cedric continued with a stare before glancing to Talia. "Talia, escort Miss Gray to a nice table, one where she will NOT be mocked for her status, I will join you both shortly." Talia nodded and took Valerie by the shoulders as she stammered.

"Wha...?"

"He's in a mood, has everything to do with a feral dog running around these parts nowadays." She was sat back by the window as Talia talked to her as Tucker mused, gulping his food down.

"Whoa, brutal!"

"Did you see that?" Danny didn't care to glance in the trio of popular kids' direction as it was apparent that Cedric was a one-man army in both power and lines. "Valerie just got scorched by her friends."

"Maybe she needs better friends." Sam answered with narrowed eyes as Cedric finished and headed over, joining the conversation as Tucker quickly agreed.

"My thoughts exactly!" He rushed over as Cedric and Talia stopped short on something with frowns before Valerie bowed her head in humiliation.

"What do you want?"

"I, Uh... I was wondering if you would join me—us—for lunch, I mean, since you're..." He trailed off as the beast of the dog arrived at the window and phased through as Valerie directed her attention to Tucker in scolding.

"I'm already aware of my sudden outcast status. But thanks for reminding me."

"But—!"

"Can you please just leave me alone?! I wanna enjoy my bag lunch in peace!"

"THEN LEAN AWAY!" Both Talia and Cedric shouted as she did so on instinct, just as the bag was shredded by the ghostly monster before Valerie screamed as the beast leapt over and started to rampage and causing panic in the cafeteria as Sam commented as the dog passed the pair of them still at the table.

"You're not much of a dogcatcher."

"Yeah, no kidding. Who let the dogs in!" Danny smiled at the pun, but Sam was not amused as Danny made to explain it out. "You see, the song is 'Who let the dogs out' but I said 'Who let the dogs in'." Still nothing as he continued with his task. "I'll be right back."

"Bring some new jokes." Sam answered as Danny ducked under the table and transformed as the dog looked about before snatching the lunch lady who hurled a glop of something at the dog before Danny arrived as he talked the creature down.

"Nice pooch! Easy. That lady isn't edible. And neither is anything she cooks." The dog dropped the lady in joy of Danny as he exclaimed as the beast came barreling for him. "And neither am I!" The dog propelled the both of them through the wall as the Lunch Lady pulled off a gunk-filled tray from her behind and mused.

"Oooh, it's still good! Who wants seconds!" Standing off to the side was Cedric, Talia, Valerie, and Tucker as Tucker mused.

"Ghosts, heh." He shrugged as he continued. "Whaddya gonna do, huh?" Both Talia and Cedric face-palmed as Valerie angrily questioned.

"Ghosts?" The moment was dragged on before she exclaimed again with panic in her features. "Oh my gosh! GHOSTS!"

"Likelihood of she actually developing a grudge against the one TRYING to stop that behemoth of a dog?"

"Very likely, if we cannot find out WHAT it is looking for in the first place." Cedric pointed out as Valerie heard that, questioning why that was said and how could they be so calm about this?

* * *

Later at home, now in the developing grounds of Elmerton, Valerie sat on the couch as her father spoke. "Great news, Sweetheart!" Damon spoke as he opened the window and turned to her. "I'm getting one last chance. I convinced them to let my guard what's left of the lab while they rebuild."

"Oh that's great! How many of your employees can you put on it?"

"I don't have any more employees. I have to guard myself. At night. In that." Valerie glanced to the postman uniform and grimaced.

"Nice, And if things get worse, you can use that outfit to deliver packages." She voiced halfheartedly as Damon continued.

"Which reminds me." He darted off to Valerie's surprise before returning with a package, her brow narrowing to the address that was her's as he spoke. "This arrived while you were at school today. From Wisconsin." The watch beeped as Damon exclaimed. "Oh! Don't want to be late. 'bye, Sweetie!" Handing the package over to her, kissed her temple and headed out the door as Valerie looked at it before opening it, still looking skeptic as to what could have been sent before plucking a note out from all the packaging.

"Heard about your recent ghost troubles. Hope this will help. -Vlad." She raised her brow as a vampiric ghost leered into the house before disappearing in a green swirl as Valerie remarked, digging through the stuff before pulling out a odd pistol. "Don't know who you are, 'Vlad', but if this thing does what I think it does, I can't say that I care!" The pistol discharged to her surprise and broke something as Damon called up to the sound.

"Valerie?!"

"I'm OK!" She smirked as she geared up with the new things while Sam and Danny conversed on a hill about the dog that just can't stay put with a book on dog obedience in hand.

"I'm telling you this is one bad dog. Every time I throw him into the ghost zone, he tunnels out through the portal and comes looking for me."

"Well, you're the only other ghost in the area. So train him. Ghost dog or not, he's still a dog... I think. Good luck!" She started to head off as Danny asked.

"Where are you going?" Sam paused to explain it.

"Hello! I can't be seen with the ghost kid." She lifted the book before tossing it with a 'here', the book passing through him as his body remained the same, except getting clipped apart a bit before he picked it up to read.

"Okay, let's get to it." He read aloud on the directions to get the dog to obey, if possible. "'A dog's hearing is much more acute than a human's.' Which means..." Heedless, he was getting scoped out as he whistled and the dog came toward him as Danny read once more. "'Hand signals along with vocal commands can be a powerful combination.'" With that, he put it to use as he called out. "Stop!" Cujo came to a sliding stop on its butt before Danny as he commented. "That's weird... This dog is already trained." The dog then tackled Danny down the hill before Danny remarked to the licking face with a chuckle. "Sort of." Sam watched from a distance with binoculars as she commented.

"A boy and his dog. Somehow it's not supposed to be this freaky." Suddenly, a missile flew past Sam and Danny spotted the weapon before jumping away with Cujo as the projectile erupted in pink energy, a scowl taking his face as he put Cujo down with a command.

"Stay!" He soared over to the now-crater to find no apparent enemy as he exclaimed. "What the heck was that?!" To the sound of a jet turbine, Danny looked up to the figure that descended and... nearly toppled over, red suit made for a female on a hi-tech hoverboard as Danny frowned. "Definitely not part of Cedric's collection..." The mask engaged targeting reticles on Danny before launching another missile to which Danny dodged and pulled the new-blood into a chase around the park, dodging the missiles and additional blasts, nearly toppling her over with a turn, before phasing through a tree and forcing them to steeply adjust upward, flinging them off and leaving her to the ground if the board didn't speak with some A.I.

"Rider Absent. Corrective Piloting Program initiated." The board dived and caught her just in time from hitting the ground as she cheered.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!" The pair faced off as the huntress threw a trio of small pink buzz-saws, but her aim lacked as one embedded into the tree, another bounced off a rock, while one hit a bird fountain and plopped into the water as Danny commented.

"Wow. Nice aim. First day with the new weapons?" The one that bounced came down and slashed his wrist as he yelped. "Hey! That hurt!" He paused as he realized, that HURT in ghost form, meaning they were ecto-weapons. "Wait a minute... that hurt?"

"Oh, don't worry, ghost kid. It won't hurt long. Because you are going down!" The huntress yelled as she pointed the double-barreled weapon at Danny, who was starting to regret making a mockery of weapons that COULD end him. She charged before firing, launching herself off the board, just as Cujo, in its big dog form, snatched Danny and hauled out of there as the huntress yelled with the board catching her. "Come back!" She fired a barrage at the escaping pair, but couldn't get a hit in before she slammed into a tree, feeling that one as Cujo came to a stop by Sam with Danny as Sam exclaimed.

"Who was that? That's an awesome outfit!"

"Don't know. Don't care. See the ball, boy?" Danny exclaimed to Cujo's excitement before throwing the ball that formed in his palm with a call. "Fetch!" The dog chased after it out of sight, but that didn't save Danny as the sound of a turbine came close as he spoke. "Oh, man! She's coming! Sam! Hide!"

"No time!" Sam exclaimed as she tackled Danny into the bushes as the huntress came to a skidding stop as she exclaimed.

"No escapin' me now, ghost boy!" She aimed the weapon, but lowered it as there was no sign of the 'ghost boy', just Sam kissing Danny in the bushes before both exclaimed, Sam shouting at the interruption.

"Do you MIND!"

"Oh, gross! Loser love! I always knew you two geeks would end up together." She took off as Sam mused in pondering.

"That sounded like Valerie." She paused as Danny looked lost in a happy daze before she spoke up. "Danny... Danny?" He looked to her as she tried to dissuade the notion. "You didn't think it was a real kiss, did you?"

"No! Why?! D-did you?" Sam looked just as uncomfortable about it as they split up and headed to Casper where they told the small group of the possible threat of Valerie to which Tucker questioned with a smirk.

"Wait. You guys kissed?"

"NO! It was a fake-out make-out!" Danny and Sam exclaimed as Talia chuckled while Cedric rolled his eyes before both spoke.

"Strange that it is a 'fake-out make-out' when there is still signs of a smear on Sam's lips." A hand quickly slapped over Sam's mouth while Cedric added.

"Indeed, there is still a violet lipstick mark on Danny's own mouth." A second hand slapped over Danny's mouth as Tucker pointed it out himself.

"But that still has the word 'make' and 'out' in it, right? Maybe I should try that out on-" Anymore was lost when Tucker slammed into Valerie, dropping several books to the floor, as he exclaimed. "Valerie! Hi!" He bent down to grab her books as he spoke to the pair in denial. "Okay, guys, see yah!" Sam and Danny headed out with angry looks as Cedric and Talia just sighed and turned to Tucker.

"Thanks, Foley, you just made them leave before giving us their 'great story' to us."

"You have little tact, I am surprised you are letting him this close, Miss Gray." Valerie just shrugged as Tucker stood up with books in hand before questioning it.

"_Ghost Hunter's Almanac? Ghost killing for Dimwits?_ When did you get so interested in ghosts?"

"When they ruined my life!" She hissed as she snatched the books from Tucker as he continued.

"You know I happen to know a thing or two about ghosts."

"Please, I'm broke, I'm not stupid." Valerie answered as she headed off with Tucker following, Talia and Cedric looking at each other before holding hands and following as Tucker spoke.

"But seriously, did you know Danny's parents are professional ghost hunters?" This stopped Valerie in her tracks as she spoke.

"No, I didn't know that." With that, she sweetened her voice and with a big smile. "Hey, Tucker. You wanna carry my books for me." In Tuckervision, sparkles around her face with fluttering eyelashes, making him smile as Danny and Sam looked on, surprised that Talia and Cedric just acted like a close couple as they followed, both trusting them to at least get Valerie to listen, but still Tucker's desires were trouble as Danny spoke.

"Great! My best friend has a crush on a ghost hunter."

"That's life! Well, your life, anyway." They headed out to the gym where Casper was playing basketball against another school with the four of Danny, Sam, Cedric, and Taila watching as Danny glanced about in concern. "Danny, will you relax?"

"How can I? That stupid ghost dog could be anywhere, not to mention, I have no idea how Valerie became a ghost hunter." They didn't linger long before Tucker spoke up, Valerie by his side.

"Hey guys, can we join you?" Sam and Danny answered with the same answer.

"NO!" Both of the other people sighed before bopping Danny and Sam's heads before Talia answered with a smile.

"Please, more company is valued..."

"And we are not going to kick you out for being from a different rank in the past, come sit down." Danny and Sam sighed at the willingness of Talia and Cedric to just let the ghost huntress Valerie to sit by them, but Danny learned that what Cedric did had reason and Sam accepted that, if they were to be better, they needed more hands on deck to help as Valerie spoke.

"So, Tucker tells me your parents hunt ghosts?" Danny answered with an explanation.

"Ghost hunting is currently too high for them right now, but I do know that many of their inventions have been very effective." Danny leaned forward as he kept his eye on Valerie in his explanation. "Now, if you really want to be a better 'ghost huntress', then I think you would actually benefit a lot from us, we have actually been close to each ghost fight and have fought them off within reason." Valerie was confused with Tucker and Sam as Cedric filled it in with some input along with Talia.

"That being said, Danny, we NEED to figure out what that ghost dog is searching for." Talia nodded as Valerie listened with interest with the other friends.

"I have never seen that sort of hound before, even in the Zone, it must be a recent spirit and is in search of something important to it for its past life." Cedric rubbed his jaw as he continued the thought.

"Now, what are the connection that we can link to this ghost dog's behaviors?" Danny nodded as he pondered it himself before he spoke up, the game still going on.

"It's collar has a dog-tag in an icon of an 'A' and four electrons on it, but I don't know any more than that, beside that it was partially trained."

"And so far, it has appeared around Valerie and her father." Cedric pointed out as Valerie thought about it herself, that rage with a grudge slipping away as Cedric continued. "It clearly was looking for something around them, but what...?" The four thought about it before Valerie questioned.

"The kennels...?" The group looked to the African-American female as she continued with meeting their gaze. "Before my dad installed the system that 'was' meant to keep any intruders out of Axion Labs, we had been employing guard dogs for years before it soon came too costly to maintain them anymore."

"I am hoping that you were wise in sending the dogs away, because if you say the other course..." Talia hummed as Valerie shook her head as she spoke.

"I don't know, the boss of the labs said that they 'did away with the dogs', but I guess I didn't think too deeply about it." They shared looks before Valerie paused with a fear. "N-No, you mean that..."

"That dog is after something still in the labs, yes." Danny answered as he took on a serious look. "So we need..." Anymore was lost as Dash made to make a free throw before a loud series of barks came, throwing Dash off with a scowl before the ghost dog appeared and barked at the whole gym and causing everyone to panic, except three as Cedric, Valerie, and Danny took off to change as the dog phased behind the bleachers and Danny phased up to find that the dog was actually trying to dig the floorboards before sinking down, Danny landing with a crouch as he inquired to the continued mention. "You're looking for something? What are you looking for? Sam was right. Ghost dog or not, you're still a dog, and you're looking for something." Valerie arrived and was surprised just the same as she flew down.

"Okay, yeah, it looks like it IS looking for something, but what...?" The two glanced at the other before back to the dog. "So how exactly are we going to figure this out, I mean, if I was still angry, I would be picking a fight, but seeing that... dog just digging is making me curious as to what we could find."

"Do you think that there could be something left behind at Axion then?" The Iron Exorcist floated down and crossed his arms as the dog just continued to sniff and dig.

"We need to check it out, but first we need to go about the school day, we need to be in the free time zone before we can move on it." They nodded just as quickly before shattering, the dog getting away for the moment as Tucker held a grudge himself when they reached the chemistry lab with Danny commenting.

"Tucker, you can't still like her!"

"Why not? For once a girl who likes me likes me back. Why can't you just roll with that. Not everyone has to like you, Danny. Don't you trust me?" Tucker asked as Danny pointed out.

"You I trust. It's your hormones I worry about." Valerie waved over and Tucker waved back when suddenly, the ghost sense went off and a loud bark echoed through the school, Valerie and Danny shooting their hands up as they exclaimed.

"May I be excused?" Valerie pursued to be sure about it while Danny just soared beside the dog to see what it could be up to as he mused to himself, though no ecto-blasts being fired as they instead worked to corral the dog.

"Three hundred seventy-nine girls at our school, and he's got to have a crush on the one with the weapons and the lingering grudge." They slowly came to a halt as Danny grimaced with Valerie hearing him out. "All this is my fault. I suppose I should do something to help you, Valerie. After I figure out what to do with you." Cujo panted as he shrink back down and Danny pulled out the book before Valerie took it and exclaimed.

"Does this stuff even work?"

"It seems to, the dog listens to it, I just call it 'Cujo' for a better name." Valerie nodded before Danny exclaimed. "Go on boy, go get it!" The dog blinked at the pair of them both before Danny tried once more. "I mean..." He pointed as he called out. "FETCH!" That, Cujo obeyed as he took off and the pair followed him on the trail before it ended at Axion Labs during the night, after they dealt with the school work, as Danny questioned, Valerie giving up the board to keep a low profile. "The lab? What you're looking for is in there?" The sound of something opening got them on guard as Danny whispered. "Somebody's coming!" They flattened against the wall and Danny turned them all invisible while Valerie swiftly got her hand over Cujo's mouth to keep it quiet as Damon and the boss walked down the way.

"I really appreciate you giving me a second chance."

"As long as nothing else happens, we'll see about re-instating your contract. I knew we should never have gotten rid of those guard dogs."

"My dad? Oh, great!" Valerie detached from the wall as she spoke. "I've got to slip under, I can't let my dad find out about this yet."

"Get going, we will meet up inside the lab, I hope." She nodded as she took off with Danny's help before the team formed up later at night before Sam questioned.

"We're here. Where's man's best friend?" Danny whistled and Cujo burst from the ground and growled at the four of the unfamiliar faces as Tucker exclaimed.

"Relax, I'm on your side!"

"Yeah, so he says."

"Hey, I'm the one who knocked out the security camera, remember?" Tucker answered with his PDA brandished as Danny explained the situation.

"Okay. Good news, there's only one guard. Bad news, it's Valerie's dad."

"Ouch." Was the sentiment of the group as Danny continued as he went ghost.

"So I think it's safer if I go down there by myself. This Fenton Fisher should make a good leash." He tied the line to the collar before tying it to the tree as he spoke. "You guys watch the dog." He took flight as Sam and Tucker had an answer for him as they had scaled a tree.

"We will..."

"...From way up here." They drew away from the barking behemoth while Talia and Cedric just kept a lookout while Valerie listened to her dad as he mused.

"Think I'll go out and pick us up a little late-night snack." He turned to Valerie who was working on some homework before being addressed by her dad. "Will you be okay, Honey, you got stuff to do?"

"I'll be fine, Daddy. I've got everything I need, right here." She mused before something clearly discharged and she frowned at her pack before assuming her innocent routine as Damon came back in surprise.

"Valerie?!"

"I'm OK!" She beamed as Damon left before she checked her pack. "Oh, there goes the next lunch bag, great..." Elsewhere, Danny phased in before he questioned.

"I wish I knew what I was looking for." He hopefully wanted Talia's wishing power to kick in so he would know where to look before a blast hit him and he crashed back into the wall he came in from.

"Back to the scene of the..." Valerie stopped from her entrance and gasped. "Oh shoot, I am so sorry, I thought..."

"No harm done..." Danny got up and straightened, both flinching as a crack came before Danny answered. "Okay... some pain..." He huffed as he rolled his neck. "So let's start looking for what could be missing for a little, yapping dog."

"Little... you're joking right?"

"Sarcasm at its finest then." Danny mused as Valerie lead the way to the old kennels and they peered about as Valerie landed and looked as well. "It would be so much easier if we just knew what we were looking for before Cujo decides to charge on in."

"How would you even keep such a beast on a lease?"

"Fenton Ghost Fisher, unbreakable line, tied to a tree and watched over by trusted friends." Valerie shrugged as they searched once more and Danny groaned. "What even..."

"I don't know, we could be wrong and..." Valerie leaned on one of the padded walls and suddenly, a squeak came, both jumping before she turned to the wall. "What was..."

"...That?" Valerie reached into the walling and made to find what made the squeak before pulling it out, Danny looking at well as he mused. "Well, that's not something that should have been left behind." Valerie rolled the squeaky bear toy in hand before she ran a hand over it.

"Cujo... this toy..." She groaned as she spoke. "Of course, out of all the dogs, it had to be the worst." Danny raised a brow as Valerie explained. "There was one dog out of the whole batch that was a tough enforcer, but he was a playful guy, so gentle and sweet, but he was also the most dangerous, the trainers thought that he was diagnosed with some sort of rabies that could switch his gentle to rage within seconds."

"That could explain the whole shifting thing."

"In any case..." Valerie dropped the toy in Danny's hands and spoke again. "I got to get back before my dad flips out, I'm not even suppose to be in here."

"Well then... mind if I get you back?" Valerie looked at the hand and shook as Danny took her back to the office and left her there to give the toy to Cujo, the mission a success as Cujo panted in joy as he caught the toy in his mouth, shrinking back down before dissipating away as Taila mused.

"He has passed fully into the Zone, this has been a bold task."

"Yeah." Danny turned back as he mused. "Now I just have to worry about Valerie catching notice of my powers."

"Oh Danny..." Cedric answered as he slung his arm over Danny's shoulder. "You need help, training, and who better than a huntress in red, besides, she can learn on the job and we can help her." But the smile sent chills down their spines as Danny moaned.

"Oh, please, not again..."

* * *

Another free period passed for Casper High as the trio spoke amongst themselves for lunch as Tucker asked. "Know where the dog went?"

"Nope." Was Danny's answer as Sam added to it.

"Going to play it a little safer now that Valerie the 'Ghost Slayer' is around?"

"Hmm... Possibly..." Sam nodded before she froze and questioned.

"Wait, where is Valerie?" They looked at each other before exclaiming.

"CEDRIC!" Eating fast, they rushed away to the lab where Cedric was likely to be and slammed through as they called out. "STOP!"

"You barely made it, you three. Jazz has already gotten down to her brass taxes while Valerie..."

"WHY WOULD YOU SHOW ME SUCH A HORRIBLE THING!?" Valerie called out and hid under a desk in the far corner in terror as the trio glared at Cedric as he spoke.

"What? I am just trying to get everyone prepared and sometimes..."

"Your methods are... bar... bar..." Sam stammered as the trio took in the very skeletal structure of Danny Phantom on the board, Jazz pausing from her studies with several books to look at the friends.

"Believe it or not, this is actually very detailed and helpful for when you get severely hurt and what to use to fully heal it."

"I... I have no words..." Danny hung his head as he wandered over to Valerie and spoke. "You okay there?"

"No... No, I am not okay..." Valerie spoke as she slowly took Danny's hand and was helped out of the small alcove by the friends as she held herself. "I just wanted to learn more about ghosts and Cedric is VERY detailed with his own studies, did you know that ghosts have lower than a hundred bones in their own body and all of them are structurally sound by ghost standards, but often considered bird-like density if allowed to linger in the Real World for too long?"

"Did he also invoke the..."

"LA LA LA LA LA!" Valerie yelled as she covered her ears. "I'm not listening, I'M NOT LISTENING!" Danny sighed as it took them awhile to get her back and help her out with food before Sam spoke up.

"By the way, Valerie, I don't often do this, but hey..." Valerie looked up as Sam pulled out two hundred dollar bills from her wallet and handed them to her. "A tip for the tickets."

"Tickets?" Her eyes suddenly flashed wide as she stumbled. "N-No way... You...!?"

"Yep." With that moment, Valerie hugged Sam and spoke.

"Give them HELL..."

"Oh, we excel at that..." Later on, the concert was in full swing as Danny, Sam, and Tucker rocked out with Dumpty-Humpty as she exclaimed. "I can't believe we're sitting next to those losers!" Sadly, that is what Dash, Paulina, and Kwan were facing as the trio just had fun, rocking out with Valerie's permission, though no one else knew that...

* * *

Cedric tilted the new box in hand before looking at the note that came with. "...There is only one Vlad that we know of that would be behind this, and I dare say he has some credible respect from us..."

"But who...?" Valerie asked as they pulled out the additional weapons and gadgets inside. "Who would go this far, just to make me a huntress?"

"To keep Danny on his toes, more or less." Talia nodded to the thought as Cedric continued to catalog the new gear in the lab after-hours, giving Valerie plenty of time to get some assignments completed, just like Danny who managed to get his own grades back up to a B- with the additional time with the group and Jazz's own tutoring which helped as she worked her part. "A rival is better than any opponent, a rival grows with you and develops new skills and powers against you to test their own resolve, they become both the friend that can see you to the end and the foe that will keep you going when the odds are at their worse." Cedric breathed as he finished. "I am guessing Masters is behind this, but I have to see him or recognize his handiwork before I can be sure; Still, Winconsin only has so many Vlads to be honest." Valerie shrugged as she just worked to get the gear together, getting a bit suspicious as, not once among the party, did they mention where Cedric actually lived at and that perked Valerie's curiosity...

...As to why he was so good and yet so hidden from the eyes of everyone...


	11. S1 - Fanning the Flames

The Ghost Zone swirled and bellowed as doors that lead to lairs and worlds floated about, but while the ghosts and spirits were commonplace in the Zone, the mechanical tub that is the Specter Speeder was not as Sam and Tucker sat inside it while Danny Phantom, their friend, was outside fighting, though it couldn't be considering fighting if Danny's strength failed to keep the buck-toothed, PJ-wearing ghost away as he exclaimed in another struggle with the ghost, on the closest piece of rock to the Speeder. "Get off me, Klemper!"

"But I just want to be your friend!" The ghost smiled and that is why it was a problem right now, they ran into Klemper in a previous run in the Ghost Zone and, since then, they had often been hounded by the friendliest ghost ever, only wanting friends and believing to get them through the most common action for them, which is for Danny, had been fighting as he exclaimed to the pair inside the craft, Cedric and Talia taking the backseat in the Real World to refine and make more Fenton tech, with Jack's permission, Jazz and Valerie unable on account of some rising pop star.

"Will someone please remind me why this was a good idea?" Sam was admiring the pair of headphones that Danny gave her and Tucker before she looked to the ghostly hero being hugged.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to map out the Ghost Zone." Danny rolled his eyes with struggling as Tucker added to it with a clear unhappy look about the headphones.

"You're also the only one that doesn't have to wear these stupid Fenton Phones." He touched the green earpiece before focusing to his PDA that had pulled up a track from an artist called 'Ember' and it blared music through it, Sam grimacing to the music as Tucker continued, smiling to the song. "Good thing they also work as wireless earphones, because these things are a fashion 'don't'." Tucker finished as he looked at the pair on him with some scorn before Danny exclaimed from the vice-grip on him.

"They're not supposed to look good." Danny answered as he struggled to escape Klemper's grip. "They're supposed to filter out spectral noise so we can communicate." Danny continued with Klemper flopping on him when Danny pulled himself free for but a moment as Klemper was still stuck on him before the ghostly hero shouted. "Like when I say things like HELP GET THIS THING OFF ME!" But Sam just admired the earphones in the side window and mused.

"They're not stupid. I think they make great techno-goth earrings." Danny voiced his reply as he struggled still.

"Really?" He mused to that thought. "Hey, maybe I should give a pair to Paulina." He rasp-berried as he continued. "Nah, I like them better on my goth." His mouth was gripped by Klemper as Sam readied a reply while Tucker was jamming out to the Ember song before the later portion clicked and she spoke up.

"Wait, wait, what did you say about 'your goth'!?"

"Nothing!" Danny exclaimed as he finally got free and made to fly, but he was pulled back down and Klemper blasted him with a breath of ice, freezing Danny before he broke free with his ecto-blasts and, spotting a refrigerator door, soared for it with Klemper in pursuit before he landed with hands on the handle and pulled, Klemper soaring through into a blizzard area of the zone before Danny slammed it shut and destroyed the handle, leaving Klemper to be friends with someone else right now as he headed back over to the Speeder as Tucker's offbeat singing echoed to Sam's dismay and overshadowing the music.

"Ember! So warm and tender!" Danny phased through and reverted back to Fenton as he blew into his hands and rubbed them, but it did little to warm him up as he questioned with a shiver.

"Can a ghost get frostbite?" Sam joined as she answered with intent.

"Oh, here. My hands are warm." She took her hands off the wheel and wrapped them around Danny's own before both looked at the bundle before at each other and averted with a blush on their faces, giving weak smiles when they looked at each other and slowly seemed to slip into comfort with getting close before Tucker ruined it with his jamming and horrible singing.

"Ember! Go Ember!" This creeped the pair out before looking down to their hands and released as Danny stammered, holding his hands up.

"Uh… I think I'm gonna need my hands for this." He placed his hands over his ears as Sam took to driving, flipping the Speeder around and heading out with a pound of its three boosters with the music still blaring with it's female voice resounding from the metal hull of the vehicle, even as it disappeared through the portal behind them.

"You will remember my name…" As it turned out, it would get a bit worse or better when it was discovered that Ember McLain was making an appearance in Amity...

* * *

The music seemed to follow to Casper High as Tucker played it through in a new look of black shirt that had a blue flame in the spelling of 'Ember' inside it, a purple beret with a 'e' in blue fire as Danny exclaimed in disbelief. "I don't get it! This Ember McLain comes outta nowhere and suddenly she's the biggest thing since MP3s!" He arched his brows in questioning for a word that would work. "It's so-" Sam cut him out as she remarked in a slight angry tone.

"Infuriating how mindless pre-packaged corporate bubble gum is preventing true musical artists from being heard?"

"I was gonna say 'weird', but, uh, okay." Danny answered with a shrug and a smile as Sam beamed back as Tucker answered.

"Ember's not just about music." They cleared the hall, only to find more of the apparel to Tucker's glee. "She's an expression of my unique individuality." The 'individuality' was lacking as the students they found were sporting merch by the dozens, ranging from posters, beanies, t-shirts, and blazers. They spotted Valerie and she was part of the event with pieces of papers or flyers hanging from the wall as well before Sam pointed out with sarcasm for her friend.

"Oh yeah, you're one of a kind!" Danny beamed as she popped a hip with hand on it as she continued her sentence. "Every _single_ one of you!" Paulina approached the trio in a Ember-themed appearance of her attire, taking in the Fenton Phones on Sam before remarking with sass.

"Nice earrings. Sale at the eighty-nine cent store?" She commented rudely as Sam countered back as Danny just smiled, eyes switching over to Sam as the smile fell to a neutral look of question.

"For your information, Paulina, they're a gift." Danny slightly jumped as Sam gestured to him. "Danny gave them to me."

"Don't put me on the spot like that..." Danny quietly mused as Paulina questioned.

"Really?" She pointed at the pair as she continued. "He gave you earrings?" She then scoffed as she continued the insult, causing their eyes to widen and mouths drop in shock. "I always knew you two losers would end up together." Sam shouted as Paulina walked away.

"We're _not_ losers!" Danny came to her side as he added to it.

"We're _not_ together." Tucker broke the tension as he continued to sing off-key to the ONE song that must be the whole stick for Ember, shifting in place as he chanted.

"Ember! Go Ember! Ember! Remember! Ember! Go Ember!" Both Sam and Danny shouted at him with rage as he cringed from the call out.

"Will you keep it down?!"

"Hey, check it out!" Dash mused from the side as he leaned toward Kwan and remarked with thumb pointed to the pair that shouted at their friend. "The lovebirds are ganging up on Foley!"

"We're not lovebirds!" Both shouted at the jock before glancing to the other in shock, forward, before arching their brows again. They cleared out some before Talia and Cedric made their appearance again, meeting Sam and Danny while Tucker headed off in chant as the Demi genie mused, her entrance into the school quite a surprise as Danny and Sam thought she only came for the after-school sessions, not realizing that Cedric had made a full biography for her to attend and the two are often seen as a pair.

"For what is it worth, you two are lovebirds in recent days, but I believe that this 'Ember' is getting to you."

"Not surprising." Cedric cast a glance around before he continued to the memorabilia that filled the school. "The school changed overnight with this 'rising' pop star." He rubbed his chin as Talia swept her hair away a bit, the flicker of green the same as Sam's while Cedric had on a pair of headphones, like the type DJs wear, with small earbuds unlatched from the rims of the piece and in Cedric's ears. "It's almost as if something else is going on that we just don't see..." They exchanged looks before Talia spoke again.

"In any case, we just wanted to be sure you two were okay, it seemed that the comments were getting under your skin."

"We're okay, Talia." Sam spoke as she glanced to Danny as he glanced back. "I guess we never really discussed it, but if we did, do you think our relation as friends would be affected as well?"

"I believe so, but that is for the two of you to decide, we can't share insight on such a matter with you two if you are not ready."

"Says the girlfriend of the detailed and thorough friend." Talia snickered as Cedric playfully rolled his eyes to Danny's monotone voice while Sam huffed the same before the scientific friends spoke again.

"We should get going, class is going to start." They headed off, but found the whole room changed with tri-monitors, some techno devices to be placed on the head and Lancer waiting in silence in front of the blackboard that read 'LEARNING IS HIP!' on it before he spoke as the bell rang, going through the motions of two fingers and smile with palm up before glancing to the machine that was set up.

"As you know, the Northwestern Nine Standardized testing starts in two days, and because my bonus is proportional to your grades, we have installed the CramTastic Mark Five." It looked like it was connected to all of the monitors that read 'STAND-BY' as Lancer explained it to the confused and terror of a few students. "The latest in state-of-the-art subliminal study-aid technology. Let the learning begin!" Lancer pressed a red button on the side of the machine and the screens fizzled before suddenly playing music with a pop star with flaming blue hair in a black one-strap top, blue-purple guitar slung on her shoulder and mic in another hand sung on the screens.

"Eeeember!" She sung into it with mic higher before zooming in on her face, detailing the make-up and pale look she had. "So warm and teeennder! You will remember my name! Yeah!" The music played as the class broke into cheer as Sam, Danny, and Talia lifted their helmets off their heads while Cedric rested a hand to his headphones and listened with one of the big pieces with a look of curiosity before Lancer, surprised by the turn, turned to the machine in rage and pressed the on/off button, cutting the feed on the screens and ejecting the disc of Ember's music, holding it up in anger before the beat of a drum was heard and everyone looked around for the source before Lancer exclaimed to who it could have been coming from.

"Foley! Turn off that blasted PDA!" Lancer threw the disc, knocking the PDA out of Tucker's hand as he exclaimed.

"It's not me!" He pointed out the window with a thumb as the people follow the direction. "It's coming from outside!" The majority of the students rushed over as, from the street, a flat-bed truck rolled over and halted in front of the school, amps on the truck with a banner set up with 'EMBER', the amps blaring before, from a violet plume of smoke, came the rock star herself, skull boots, black leather pants, single black strap top, holding her guitar in hand with one hand and a strap on her while the other hand was raised high in the air in a fist before another smoke plume brought the drummer responsible for the sudden drum solo.

The hand fell with the smug look and blazing robin-blue hair as two more appeared on the platform with a member on an axe and the other with another guitar before the song started up and played into sync as the fist raised again and she played with a call in her song. "Yea~ah! Oh-oh-ah-Oh-oh!" The axe supported as the school swarmed out and cheered as Ember called out to the crowd that poured out. "Hell-o Casper High!" Ember shouted with a pumped fist as she continued into the mic set up in front of her. "Tell me who you love!" The crowd chanted her name like a prayer being answered and pumping fists.

"Ember! Ember!" They continued, heedless to the roaring flame that flared from Ember's own hair as she called out.

"That's it, babies! Say my name!" She shouted before continuing. "Are you ready for a little youth revolution?!" The crowd drew closer as Danny looked confused, Sam looking miffed, Talia raising a brow, and Cedric who was still listening to the big headphone before Tucker jumped out and leapt over nothing, but quickly being picked up into a mosh pit as he called out.

"We love you, Ember!" He cheered with both hands raised.

"That's because I fill a void in your empty lives!"

"You're right, Ember!" Suddenly, Danny's ghost sense went off and Talia's breath flared like fire and Danny looked around warily as Talia and Cedric shared a glance to Danny's concern.

"Uh-oh." Danny didn't know where the ghost could be, but his thoughts were cut when Lancer, finding his way to a raised position, stood on top of a fire hydrant and bellowed on a bullhorn and raised finger at Ember.

"Attention, freakishly dressed teen idol! I order you to cease and desist!" His hand clenched in a fist as Ember shouted back.

"Desist this, grandpa!" She tampered with a dial on the guitar and switched it to a purple swirl before strumming it out once, a purple wave rolling over the crowd before they turned to Lancer with glowing red, somehow mind-controlling them to attack him as he exclaimed.

"Pride and Prejudice!" Danny exclaimed the same as he realized the meaning, Cedric still trying to isolate something on the headphone while Talia looked ready to join.

"Ember's the ghost?" He exclaimed mystified before he bent down ready. "Oh my gosh!" The shock slipping to determination as the ring formed and divided on him, bringing Danny Phantom to the fight as he readied to jump on the steps. "I gotta save Lancer!" He paused as he mused, that sounded a bit awkward. "Wow, this is bittersweet." Determination back on, he leapt into the air as Talia spoke as well.

"Desires be known!" With raised hand, the ring formed and slipped away, the former harem girl now in a attire that would remind one of the ancient sword dancers as her hair gained a long orange-yellow streak over the portion at her face. "You will not harm that man!" She followed suit as the crowd rushed Lancer, Danny making it in time to turn Lancer intangible, saving him from a small crowd and Talia projecting a shield before forcing it over the students that lingered for a rush, they looking dazed and stumbled as Danny looked back to the confused teacher as he spoke, turning his head toward Ember's stage.

"Now to knock the pop princess off the-" He came to a skidding halt when he suddenly found that McLain was gone, not even her truck was there as he exclaimed. "-charts?" Indeed, Ember was gone as the students were freed from their controlled states as Sam made her way over to Tucker, he looking dazed and confused, but smiling still before he looked around in confusion and annoyance.

"Hey! No encore?" He yelped to Sam's uninterested look in desperation. "What's that all about?" His shoulders slumped as he headed off, the remaining four still lingering as Talia questioned with changing back.

"I have heard of hypnotism, but that one's power clearly has it more directed than most."

"Yeah..." Cedric answered as he worked with a dial on the headphones. "I'm picking up an ecto frequency on the Fenton Headset that seems to control any that listen to it, the fact that it is currently able to control the teens here is a sign of something more in store."

"But why wasn't Sam affected?" Danny questioned as Sam narrowed her eyes.

"Why wasn't Cedric affected then, Danny!?"

"Manson, calm down..." Sam straightened up as Cedric spoke. "I'll try to figure it out, meanwhile, you guys need to keep order in our band, we have already lost Valerie and Jazz is nowhere in sight as of late." Cedric lowered his hand as he continued. "Get going, I just want to be sure..." They nodded and headed off as school was let off while Cedric tampered with his Headset once more before Talia asked.

"Can you stop the control?"

"I can isolate it and purge it from everyone, but I am going to need someone's aid." Cedric paused from his tampering before pulling out a phone, flipping it open, and dialing a number. "Hey, it's me... Yeah, we got something to work with..." Cedric hummed as Talia watched before her 'boyfriend' nodded and continued. "I'll make the adjustments, but I need to confirm something... you know McLain?" He nodded before he finished. "Got it, see you soon." He hung up and breathed before he turned to Talia and spoke. "Let's hope that he can get the goods together for the job..." They headed off to take a moment from the short, but hectic time of Ember's appearance...

* * *

The next day saw Lancer sorting through magazines that advertise Ember McLain with a fire of hate for her disruption of school and town life. "Ember… Ember… Ember… If I see one hint of that woman in school today, I'll-" He scowled with narrowed eyes before stopping as more Ember merch littered the halls in front of him with students branding her merchandise before he exclaimed. "Chicken Soup for the Soul!" Sadly, the fed also affected poor Tucker as he was dressed in the Ember t-shirt, his face was done up with matching makeup, and his beret was replaced with a wig that was robin-blue and like fire as Danny and Sam walked up to him in concern while holding a few books on hand before Danny started the conversation.

"Tucker, you're starting to scare me. And I fight ghosts!" Tucker defiantly commented as he patted his wig about the matter.

"It's an Ember thing. You wouldn't understand it." Sam cut in as she pointed out the horrible truth of the pop star.

"Uh, you do realize she's an evil mind-controlling spirit from another dimension?" Tucker held up a finger as he countered back with a point back and a smile.

"Yeah, but you said the same thing about Paulina." Danny looked over to Sam as he confirmed that notion.

"You know, he has a point." Sam rolled her eyes as Paulina suddenly rushed over, now looking like the Hispanic cosplay of Ember herself which was scary as she ranted to everyone in the hall with excited fists.

"Hey, everyone! Ember's giving away free concert tickets at Bucky's Music Megastore!" She paused before commenting with the finger toward Tucker. "Nice hair!"

"Thanks." Tucker replied in kind, Danny and Sam surprised as Cedric and Talia watched the interaction with a bit of shock themselves. "Nice hair!" He pointed back before a horde of the students charged for the entrance with most in Ember apparel and chanting.

"Ember! Ember! Ember! Ember!" Lancer made a stand as he positioned himself between the door and the students as he tried to stop the madness.

"You people aren't going anywhere except detention!" He barely breathed out the last word before he was trampled by the overeager students. Talia and Cedric watched as Tucker was held back some by Sam and Danny as he tried to get to the same place in glee.

"Must- have- Ember- tix!" Sam spoke up as Tucker's sudden adrenaline was impossible to halt completely.

"We're going to have to deprogram him!" The pair paused in getting dragged to notice that Sam was holding Danny from behind while Danny held onto Tucker. They released with a pair of whistles and Tucker would have gotten away, if Cedric and Talia had let him as Cedric strong-armed Tucker and lifted him up with use of the Exorcist arms, lifting him to the classroom. Sam tied Tucker down as Danny wedged the helmet over the wig before the CramTastic started up to Cedric's input as graphs, charts, and text flashed past for Tucker's bound figure. "This is where the healing starts." Tucker started to slip into watching the information fly past for him as the four headed off as Danny finally asked again as to why they were not affected.

"I still don't get why we're not affected by Ember's music." Danny asked as he turned his hand intangible and started to search for something in his locker as Sam shrugged while Cedric and Talia watched them just the same.

"Maybe because of your ghost powers and my-" She continued as she thought about it before Danny asked in cutting into the thought.

"Individuality or intelligence?" He quickly found the Fenton Thermos that he stored and gestured to the thought with his other hand as it returned to color as Sam replied with please in her tone.

"I was gonna say 'utter disdain for anything popular', but okay." She blushed before she asked to the slight surprise of Danny's look. "You really think I'm smart?" The look shifted to joy as he leaned forward to reply, but another presence made himself present as he spoke, Mr. Lancer looking a lot worse from the trampling.

"Not so fast." Indeed, between a torn shirt, scratches, a shiner, and somehow blackened tooth, Lancer has seen better days as he spoke. "You four lovebirds may be the only students left in the entire school-" Danny and Sam protested to it as Cedric and Talia remarked.

"We're not lovebirds!"

"It's becoming a running gag!" Lancer lifted his hands as he continued.

"But that's not going to stop me-" He reached down to take the wrists of the protesting members as he continued to lecture them. "-From giving you an education." He moved to sweep them away as Danny and Sam shared a look and clasped hands before Danny turned them intangible and slipped away while Cedric and Talia just followed before Lancer arrived and gasped, turning around to find that two were missing before he exclaimed as Cedric and Talia found their place and got to work, also keeping Tucker company while they waited for Cedric's mystery client to come through on something. "Lord of the Flies!" He cried out while falling to his knees. "They're slipping right through my hands!"

Across town, Bucky's Music Megastore stood tall as crowds of fans swarmed it for the big-time pop star while Sam and Danny flew their way over, Sam taking in the height and sights before finding herself at a loss of breath with how the sun just caught Danny's ghostly look, his confidant smile and found herself blushing once more, heedless of the change of observing before Danny spoke up with raised brow.

"Are you okay, Sam?" She snapped out of it before she stammered.

"Huh? Oh!" She giggled nervously with a blush as she commented. "It's just really nice up here, that's all. Flying's nice." She giggled in nervous tension again as Danny's eyes seemed to pop before he turned away with a blush and smile of his own before the two shared in a dreamy share of glances before slamming into the massive cutout of Ember McLain and falling onto the rooftop as the moment was shattered and Sam said as much. "Falling stinks." They collected themselves before heading down into the massive room below, the room was packed with fans as Ember's music, still the same song, played throughout to the cheer.

"Ooh, Ember! So warm and tender! You will remember my name!" From the tower of video screens came Ember McLain from more violet smoke as the crowd went wild, she reaching behind her to show off several tickets before she tossed them to the crowd, more floating down from the tables behind her, with many other things of merchandise, as she called out to them.

"Tell- me- who- you- love!" She threw her hands up as the crowd chanted once more, some holding up blue CD cases as tickets rained over them.

"Ember! Ember! Ember!" She grinned to the praise as she leaned back with pride, the hair blazing more alive as Danny and Sam phased in and took in the praise and crowd down below as Danny remarked.

"Something tells me they're not gonna love seeing their idol sucked inside the Fenton Thermos, also found Jazz." He glanced over to Sam as she made a plan, both taking a moment to find the 'scholarly' student now matching Ember's look except the hair.

"I think I can distract them." The chants continued through the store as Ember's hair blazed ever stronger before the crowd below gasped to a whistle, to Sam vandalizing one of the cutouts with a red marker set of glasses, mustache, and goatee, taking a moment to admire what she had done before calling out. "Hey everybody! Look, it's Ember McLame!" This enraged Ember, but also pointed out a problem to her current power, the chants and praise slipped away and her hair diminished as she remarked.

"Oh great." She straightened up as the hair returned to its usual appearance as she continued. "A critic." She perked up as she slung out her guitar. "Maybe you'll like my new song better!" She turned up one of the dials as the three crescent shapes lit up and her hand glowed violet-pink before Danny struck, blasting her as he exclaimed to her.

"Hey! Do you take requests? How about 'Beat It'?"

"How about I just lay down a few power chords instead, dipstick!" She strummed out a stream of green, skulls lining it, as Danny made to use the Thermos, only to get blasted with the Thermos thrown to hang from the cutout's ear before she laughed and teleport out of there with blue flames as Danny flew over to the crowd's cheer before he phased through the rooftop where Ember waited as he countered to her comment.

"'Dipstick'?" He smiled falsely to the insult with a short 'Ho ho' before getting serious again. "Funny." He soared over and gripped hands with Ember to take her down through force as he continued. "Who writes your insults? The same hack who writes your songs?" He glanced down to the streets below to the chanting people and the hair flared once more to Ember's smile, Danny quickly losing the advantage as he gasped. "Chanting… makes you stronger… You lured me out here on purpose..."

"You got that right, baby pop." Ember closed her eyes in glee as she continued, flinging him away with a single hand. "And the more kids chanting, the stronger I get!" Danny soared before slamming into the huge cutout, toppling it over and wearing a look of concern on how that thing could have fell all the way down and crushed someone as Ember zoomed over with guitar in hand as she continued to explain her power to Danny's gasp of both power and energy Ember now possessed. "And if you think I'm strong now, just wait until midnight! When my concert goes global." Her eyes narrowed as she continued. "And the whole world's chanting my name! Then you'll _all_ be my slaves!" She strummed out a red stream at Danny, knocking him down to the cutout's legs before Sam emerged from the stairwell with Thermos in hand.

"Get away from him!" She rushed over as Danny reverted back to Fenton, staggered over how powerful the blast was as Sam placed herself between Ember and Danny as the ghostly pop star mused.

"Aw, teen love!" She donned an upset look as she continued. "They say it never lasts, but nothing distracts teenagers more than hormones." Sam's eyes popped as she slightly understood the meaning as Ember continued with narrowed eyes and glanced down to her guitar. "And I need to keep you busy for the next eight hours…" She twisted the dial once more as she remarked with the glowing pink of a heart on her guitar. "I have more than just music for you." She glanced up as she continued with hand raised to strum out another chord. "Now that they're chanting my name, my music CAN affect you!" A wave of pink with hearts laden in it surged over the pair as she exclaimed. "How about a love song?" Sam made to stand her ground, despite her shock, but she was swept off her feet while Danny, his body trapped between the cutout and the wave, suddenly got the full power in his face with pink swirls appearing in his eyes as Sam flew overhead and slid to the head of the cutout, dangerous over ongoing traffic before the effect slipped away, but the pink swirls faded to a dreamy look on Danny's face as he turned to Sam with the look as Sam was really confused of what just happened.

"Huh?" Ember commented as she made her departure.

"Well, I think I'll leave the new couple alone." She waved goodbye as she finished. "Ciao, babies!" She laughed as she phased back down into the store in escaping as Sam questioned what she meant as she remained kneeling on the cutout to keep from falling or causing the cardboard from falling.

"'New couple'?" Sam was skeptical to what that meant as she looked over to Danny. "What the heck is she talking about?" It was that moment that Danny started to move again, but toward her as he climbed onto the cutout. "Uh, Danny?" Sam questioned as she raised a hand in the air for a moment. "Now would be a real good time to go ghost and fly me out of here." Yet Danny somehow didn't hear her as he just crawled closer toward her, the weight now shifting to the head as it started to wobble forward as Sam started to get scared and called. "Danny, wait!" She shouted as she reached her hand out to stop him. "What are you doing?" But he still came closer as he commented with a dreamy tone, traffic roaming down below as the cutout started to wobble a bit more.

"Wow. I just never realized. you're really pretty when you're about to fall off a building." Sam started to panic as she exclaimed.

"Danny?" Eyes casting downward to what could be a dangerous height. "Get back!" The cutout tilted once more as she yelped. "Danny!" She could hear the panicked voices from down below of what could happen if Danny didn't stop whatever he was now doing as she begged Danny to cease this sudden behavior. "Danny, stop! Don't come any closer!" Her words somehow got through, but with the wrong answer as Danny had taken the time to stand up as he remarked with the dreamy tone.

"But you're over there and I'm over here." He rested the extended hand to his chest before pointing at Sam again. "I wanna be over there!" FINALLY, Sam clued in on what was happening as she swore she had seen that love-struck look before.

"Wait, I know that look. That's that same, longing puppy-dog stare you give Paulina!"

"Who's Paulina?" Danny asked to Sam, now pleased to hear such a thing from Danny, huffed as she spoke.

"_That's_ a pleasant side-effect." But with Danny creeping over, the cutout tilted once more with Sam snapping out of it to the dangerous reality she was now facing as Danny, in the love-struck behavior, just reached out and stepped closer before the whole thing tilted further forward and Sam screeched as she slid off, hands gripping the head before she faltered and released, falling to what could be her end...

Thankfully, it was not her time to go as a beefy hand snatched her still-outstretched hand as a man dangled from a rope ladder from the helicopter that read 'SWAT' on the side of it. Danny was also taken by a pair of SWAT members as Sam took in the arriving forces that came to 'detain' the rampant students and people as Sam huffed to the turn of events, no doubt being thrown in with the rest of the kids as Mr. Lancer arrived to proclaim with a megaphone what was happening down on the streets below with vans driving up and loading the students up.

"Attention, students! By authority of the Emergency Mass Grounding Act - You are all under house arrest." Lancer continued on top of the bus he was broadcasting from with not a megaphone, but rather a bus radio broadcasting the message as he continued. "You will now be returned to your homes to await parental punishment. And, as for your precious Ember, she's going down!" A shadow suddenly enveloped the teacher as he looked up and yelped with a jump to the side as the cutout finally fell, smashing the bus to pieces with some collateral damage to the area around it as Danny somehow pulled himself up, still on the cutboard when it fell, as Dash and Kwan cheered.

"EMBER! We love you" They hugged each other in joy at their idol, meanwhile Cedric and Talia watched it happen with a hijacked signal as the young man sighed.

"Somehow... I saw this coming." Talia nodded as Cedric turned off the setup and got to work getting everything right for the big moment...

* * *

Fenton Works soon had a SWAT van drive right up and the pair of kids were hurled into the house as Jack exclaimed, confused as Danny looked love-struck while Jazz was mimicking some seventy's female rock star. "What is the matter with you kids?" Maddie added to the question as she exclaimed.

"You need to be preparing for the Northwestern Nine testing tomorrow!" Danny replied in his drunken stupor of love.

"How can I study?" He closed his eyes as he mused. "All I can think about is Sam." Jazz was confused to this as she exclaimed.

"What's wrong with you? Why aren't you thinking about Ember?"

"Well, I'm thinking about putting you both in the Fenton Stockades." Where those were located was in the basement, separate from the lab and Maddie remarked in counter as the Stockades... was just a Iron Maiden with the word 'Fenton' in front of it as she opened it with the four down there in the medieval-adorned place.

"Jack, we can't lock the kids in some medieval containment device." Jack huffed as Jazz was defiant while Danny... was still starstruck in a daze as Jack spoke.

"Oh, all right." He answered with a turn of disapproval and crossed arms to Maddie's crossed look for such treatment. "We'll just *ground* them like every other parent." On the other hand, Jazz exclaimed as Danny just lingered in his daze.

"I'm going to Ember McLain's midnight concert tonight-" She spoke with grabbing Danny's arm and moving to walk past the two adults as she continued while Danny didn't help much within the daze. "-and there's nothing you can do about it!" Maddie stopped the action as she snatched their collars, or rather Danny's collar and Jazz's top as she exclaimed, holding them back and somehow snapping them out of it for a few minutes.

"You and your brother are not leaving this house, young lady!" Jack reentered the conversation as he used a sing-song tone as he poked his jaw in a suggestively thought.

"Fenton Stockades!" That didn't tide over with Maddie as the only one going into the Stockades was Jack as he exclaimed from the device, not getting hurt one bit from the device. "I meant them!" He scowled from his new containment as both of the kids were escorted to their rooms and Jazz fell to depression with the number of Ember memorabilia covering her room before a drumbeat played and she sprung up as she peeked out the window with a smile as a van advertising Ember's concert drove past, motivating the students and teens to rebel and escape to chase after the van, well, all except a few like Danny who was... meditating with a collection of items that was used in a shrine to Sam as he hummed to the number of things before him with crossed legs and index and pinky fingers pressed together with closed eyes.

"_Sam…"_ As if on cue, Sam scaled up the side of the building and looked to Danny through the barred window before Danny breathed once more as Sam raised a fist to the window. "_Sam_…" She tapped on the glass, causing his eyes to open before he exclaimed with a turn of the head. "Sam! You snuck out to see me!" He hunched his shoulders and closed his eyes in a dreamy trance as he mused. "Oh, this is just like Romeo and Juliet-" Then he gestured to himself and smiled with a gleeful look as he continued. "-except I'm the one on the balcony and I can understand everything we're saying." Sam spoke up as she hissed behind the glass.

"Danny, open up!" She growled with an angry turn as Danny got off the bed and walked over to open the window, Sam standing on the rungs of a ladder she set up before she climbed in from Danny opening the window before she dropped onto the floor with a pained yelp as Danny started.

"You want me to open up?" With that, Danny started to 'open up' with him leaning over and looking at her fallen form. "Okay. Um, one time, when I was five, I really wanted a puppy, but my parents-" Sam quickly cut him off as she yelled.

"Will you knock it off!" Danny slumped in a absent look as Sam stepped away to explain the plan, still looking at Danny as she exclaimed. "We have to stop Ember's concert before she takes over the world!" She stopped from continuing with extended arms overhead as she took in the number of things that must have been a shrine to her. A barely visible picture of her, a stick of her violet-pink lipstick, a joint of her and Tucker, studded bracelet, the time when she had shaved her head partially with a plaid top and choker, a lock of her hair, a pic of her doing the 'bunny ears' on a wary Danny, a piece of gum that she chewed, a message that called for Danny's help, and an unreleased picture of her time at the dance. In essence, she was creeped out by the personal things that she was looking at as she spoke. "Okay, even the part of me that's kind of liking the attention is really freaked out by this." Danny joined the conversation once more as he came from behind and praised her.

"It doesn't matter!" He took her hands and admired her on as he exclaimed. "Just so long as we have each other." Sam finally yelled at Danny, lucky that Jack and Maddie were not aware of what was going on at all.

"Snap out of it!" She reversed the grip as she looked at him with a bored look on his face. "You don't feel that way about me and I don't feel that way about you." Danny looked down before he smirked to a point.

"So why are you still holding my hands?" Sam huffed as she lifted the hands and threw them down as she made to stomp off as Danny continued. "And why are you still wearing those Fenton Phones I gave you?" She turned to give a rebuttal as she exclaimed with lashing out, frustrated with how this whole thing has turned out.

"Danny, they're not even real earrings!" She threw her hands in the air as she continued to shout. "They're just some stupid communicators that-" She stopped in realization. "-filter out ghost noise!" That made Danny question as he asked Sam about its meaning.

"Does this mean that we're breaking up?" His love state faded some as Sam went off in explanation as to why they were important as she beamed.

"Don't you get it, Danny? That's why I haven't been affected by Ember's music!" She took them out and held them in hand as she continued. "I've been wearing the Fenton Phones the whole time!" The love state resumed as Danny pointed at Sam and asked to her confusion.

"So we're not breaking up?" Sam replied with arched brows as she exclaimed.

"How can we be breaking up? We were never together!" She huffed as she snatched Danny's hand and made to head out. "We're gonna have to deprogram you like we did Tucker!" She, just as quickly, stopped in her tracks and leaned back in realization. "Oh my gosh! Tucker!" The pair hurried out and got to Casper High, quickly finding Tucker who was in the worst state ever as he was shaking with teeth chattering as he spoke to the pair's arrival and concern.

"Twelve… hours… of… intensive standardized test prep." Sam quickly took off the helmet as she apologized.

"Tucker, I'm so sorry!" Danny just smiled as he leaned over in admiration and love struck.

"You're beautiful when you're wracked with guilt." Sam was undoing the rope bindings as she remarked.

"Not now, Danny." Tucker looks to Danny and sprung up as he exclaimed.

"Man, it's about time!" He hugged the both of them with Sam confused and frightened of the reaction while Danny was still in his love drunk stupor. "I always knew you two would end up together!" Sam shoved the both of them away as she exclaimed once more, Tucker rather sad to being scorned while Danny didn't care in the state.

"We're not together! Ember put him under some kinda spell!" She shouted with a lift of the arms as Tucker was confused as he asked with the dazed Danny there, pointing out the question.

"So you don't want to end up together?" Sam shrugged with a fist to her forehead as she answered.

"I don't know!" She threw her arms out as she continued. "Maybe! But not like this!" She pleaded with the tech-head as she continued. "Tucker, please! We have to break the spell!" Tucker's answer came as he plucked the CramTastic helmet up and planted it on Danny's head as he gave a reasonable answer.

"Let's crank up the story problems and we'll see him in twelve hours!" The clock, on the other hand, disagreed as it read eleven forty-five and Sam pointed that out as well.

"We don't have twelve hours." Sam pointed at the clock while Danny dazed on before lowering it with an explanation of what is going on. "Ember's concert starts in fifteen minutes. She gets her power when people chant her name." She spread her arms out in panic as she continued. "And with a whole world-wide audience, she'll be unstoppable!" Tucker followed the thought as he took the helmet off Danny and chucked it before starting to push them on their way as he exclaimed the same, now out of Ember's spell.

"Then we better bolt down to that show and crank down the volume!" Sudden, Tucker slipped in a whiz state as he quickly spoke as they made it through the halls. "The volume of a sphere is equal to the square of the race of the base times pi times the height." He snapped back to reality with an exclamation. "Wow, that thing really works!" His tone turned annoyed as he continued his rant. "And I spent the first nine years of my school life actually _reading_?" Downtown was where the concert was being held, hosted in a big arena and being watched closely as the trio arrived, unseen so far with three Thermoses, charged by Danny while his parents were not looking as the new ones were not ready and Cedric was nowhere in sight right now, as they made for the back entrance, the slumbering security guards giving them ample chance to get inside with Danny's powers of intangibility before making their way to the control room and Sam turned to Tucker as she spoke.

"Go kill the power. We'll stand watch." Tucker rushed over as Danny dazed right back to Sam's raised brow before she asked. "Uh, can you watch something besides me?" Danny snapped out of it for a moment before pulling out a picture of Sam to her disappointment as Tucker mused as he looked over the switches and dials as he looked over all of it for the switch to cut the power.

"Okay, cutting off the power." He switched one that read 'PA System' before suddenly speaking in test format. "Electrical power equals electrical current times electric potential." He shook his head before putting a hand to his head. "Man, I gotta stop doing that!" Unfortunately, the switch he flipped before his rant was for the 'PA' System' which stood for 'Public Address System' and it just came on to Ember and a pair of security guards hearing the last statement as she jumped into the room from a door that read 'STAGE ONE' before pointing down the way to the guards' exclamation, surprising that they were Dash and Kwan in the first place.

"We love you, Ember!" She cringed with annoyance to the cheer before cracking an eye to them as she remarked.

"I heard you the twelfth time." She focused once more as she remarked with hands on hips. "Now bag 'em and gag 'em!" The pair headed off to the unaware trio, Danny and Sam getting grabbed while Tucker was dragged away by a third member as he continued his test speak. Out in the stadium, it was jam packed to the brim as the guards showed off the capture with Sam and Ember looking annoyed, Danny looking concerned with Tucker being dragged right in as well as the countdown started to one of the control men's exclaim with hand to his headset.

"On the air in five, four-" Ember leaned over to the captured trio as she mused.

"Later, dipsticks." Sam was angry as Ember continued. "I gotta go rock my world. And when I say my world,-" Her eyes widened with glee as her hair blazed with boldness. "-I _mean_ my world!" She walked off as Sam tried to get Danny to do SOMETHING.

"Danny, stop her _now_!" Danny refused as he exclaimed with defiance and closed eyes.

"I won't leave you, Sam." The band on stage performed a short intermission for the main event as Sam exclaimed.

"Forget about me!" Danny argued back.

"I can't! I won't!" The trio stopped on stage before the lights went out and Ember appeared center stage, how as her hair was clearly ablaze as she cheered with pumped fist in the air.

"Hell-o, Amity Park!" She dropped it with a shout. "Tell me who you love!" The crowd cheered the same thing, empowering Ember even more.

"Ember McLain! Ember McLain!" They cheered as the hair blazed even more as the concert was being broadcast across the world as she started to sing and play, reaching to the Netherlands, within the Land of the Rising Sun, across the arid lands of Arabia, and even down in the Outback, all chanting Ember's name as Sam exclaimed with one final course of action to snap Danny out of it.

"I hate to do this to you, Danny." She looked at him with a serious look. "But if I can't break Ember's spell, I'm going to have to break your heart!" She was not going to like it, but it was the only way as she twisted out of the grip and faced Dash as he exclaimed.

"What are you looking at?" Before she could lock lips with him to break the spell, suddenly another voice spoke through the Fenton Phones.

"So you have wished it, so it shall be and by desire made clear." Sam had leapt just as a green mist consumed the trio and Sam made contact, opening her eyes to...

...KISSING DANNY! She quickly backed off as she exclaimed. "Wha...!?" This was not the stage, she was surrounded by clouds, her fear filling as she was not sure where she, Danny now dazed, and Tucker were now before another voice spoke while the echo of Ember was heard down below.

"Honestly, what is with us with heading into the threat headlong without an actual plan in mind?" Sam turned to a door opening and, dressed in a coat, gas mask, and goggles, there was little that could be pulled from with the blue tips as Sam exclaimed.

"Cedric!"

"Get in!" With that, they were pulled into the interior of the mystery place before coming to a setup as Cedric took off the heavy attire. "Hate to drop this on you guys, but I'm going to need a second player on guitar, a keyboard user, and vocals."

"Whoa, back up, why are you asking about a band and where are we?" Tucker questioned as Cedric turned to him and answered.

"Simple, we are on a blimp that I called for, modified with a number of ecto-protection details, the plan here is to hijack Ember's signal and undo her mind control, all of us here wearing gear that will prevent Ember from taking control of any of us." He gestured to the back as a plumb-looking grease monkey came out with a pair of Fenton Phones on. "Meet my mechanic, call him Ken, he likes it better than Kent and he's from Kentucky."

"Yeah, screw your logic as well." Ken answered as he turned to the trio. "Not only do I got some mad construction skills, I can play a good beat to counter that diva's power, though her being a ghost is a great 'if' right now." Cedric nodded as he walked over and turned to the trio from beside Ken.

"We only get one shot at this, are you guys ready?" Sam groaned as this was not part of the plan at all, but she thought about it, removing her hands from her face. Cedric had a plan and he was more careful with them than a on-the-fly moment, so she trusted him and, while she was hoping that Danny would be back to normal, maybe Cedric factored that piece into this whole thing as Tucker spoke with a smile, pulling out his PDA again.

"I am totally going to wreck that mic with my epic..." Cedric just gave the 'neutral face of displeasure' before Tucker sighed. "...I got the keyboard, it shouldn't be too hard." He tampered off to the set up and started to rig it up as Cedric turned back to Sam and questioned.

"Are you ready to handle this?" Sam paused before she looked up and answered.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Down below, Ember breathed in the chanting as her song was coming to an end with her total control.

"That's right, say my name!" She cheered in victory before the power felt depleting a bit as a piano chorus played high above before a voice sung, Sam adorning a wonderful midnight gown as she sung the verses.

"Right from the start, you were a thief, you stole my heart, and I your willing victim." The piano continued as Sam sang, a bit uncomfortable about it as she just sung to focus as the blimp came into full view. "I let you see the parts of me that weren't all that pretty and with every touch, you fixed them." She glanced to where Danny should be and mused in ponder in the song. "Now you've been talking in your sleep. Oh, oh. Things you never say to me. Oh, oh. Tell me that you've had enough of our love, our love." She pumped out the next verse with a boom of the drum from the keyboard and claps. "Just give me a reason. Just a little bit's enough. Just a second - we're not broken, just bent. And we can learn to love again." She looked up, as if the sky was apparent to her at that moment. "It's in the stars. It's been written in the scars on our hearts. We're not broken, just bent. And we can learn to love again." Ember scowled as the beat was interfering with her control.

"Oh yeah, how's a blast of rock sounding to you, dipsticks!" She dialed it in as she fired a blast, but watched in surprise as the fiery blast just slid over the blimp somehow as she yelped. "What!?" Danny appeared at the second mic, his attire a button shirt and slacks as he called out in the love stupor and in rhythm of the music.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand where all of this is coming from. I thought that we were fine." Sam sang with a 'Oh, we had everything' as Danny continued. "Your head is running wild again. My dear, we still have everything and it's all in your mind." More words from Sam as she hummed the new verse with a 'Yeah, but this is happening' before Danny rested a hand to his chest. "Now you've been having real bad dreams. Oh, oh. You used to lie so close to me. Oh, oh." The next part was sung together as the control over Danny faded to the true feelings they were feeling for each other.

"There's nothing more than empty sheets between our love, our love. Oh, our love, love, love." They sang together as they just fought back Ember's power, her blasts doing nothing to the protection as Cedric smirked to how well the plan was working while taking a moment to keep recording. "Just give me a reason. Just a little bit's enough. Just a second - we're not broken, just bent. And we can learn to love again. I've never stopped. You're still written in the scars on my heart. You're not broken, just bent. And we can learn to love again." They switched between each other in the next bridge. "Oh, tears ducts and rust.", "I'll fix it for us.", "We're collecting dust, but our love's enough.", "You're holding it in, you're pouring a drink." "No, nothing is as bad as it seems.", "We'll come clean." They went into the chorus once more. "Just give me a reason just a little bit's enough. Just a second we're not broken just bent and we can learn to love again. It's in the stars, it's been written in the scars on our hearts. That we're not broken, just bent and we can learn to love again. Just give me a reason, just a little bit's enough. Just a second we're not broken, just bent, and we can learn to love again. It's in the stars, it's been written in the scars on our hearts. That we're not broken, just bent, and we can learn to love again." It faded out to Sam singing the outro. "Oh, we can learn to love again. Oh, we can learn to love again; oh, oh. Oh, that we're not broken, just bent and we can learn to love again." The piano faded out and the light dimmed over Sam as Cedric called, cutting the recording as he spoke into the headset he had on or rather the connected Fenton Headset through a wireless plug.

"Hello, Amity!" The crowd cheered, most still for Ember while some had looked up to the blimp. "That was one of our triple song challenge for one Ember McLain. It's what you guys down below would call a 'battle of the bands'." Ember growled that her spotlight was taken away as Cedric continued. "Now, welcome to the stage, a tech-wiz who believes himself a gift of man, down to sing." Danny and Sam nearly bolted out, half-dressed, to stop Cedric from allowing Tucker to sing, but the guy looked ready, cleared his throat and Danny, quickly getting dressed and with guitar in hand, slid in as Tucker started as the guitar played with a series of 'oh's' from Danny with a drum beat.

"Am I wrong for thinking out the box from where I stay? Am I wrong for saying that I'll choose another way?" Tucker gripped the mic as he continued to sing, what they believed to be a terrible voice actually very good when he knew how the song went as Sam came out, a bit surprised to have found Talia close by as she was adorned in a belly dancer attire and working on her moves as Tucker sang. "I ain't trying to do what everybody else doing. Just cause everybody doing what they all do. If one thing I know, how far would I grow? I'm walking down this road of mine, this road that I call home." The pair jammed as Tucker sang on from behind the keyboard. "So am I wrong for thinking that we could be something for real? Now am I wrong for trying to reach the things I can't see?" The next part was given another series of ooh's at the end of the next lines as Tucker sung. "But that's just how I feel, that's just how I feel. That's just how I feel. Trying to reach the things that I can't see." Danny took over as he sung, Sam actually feeling her goth heart pound to his voice, when... when did she start feeling like this? She was confronted with the obsessed side of him earlier, but this was a real genuine side of him... like the first song.

"Am I tripping for having a vision? My prediction: I'mma be on top of the world." He rocked the axe with a smile as it felt real enough for him. "Walk your walk, and don't look back. Always do what you decide. Don't let them control your life. That's just how I feel, oh. Fight for yours, and don't let go. Don't let them compare you, no. Don't worry, you're not alone. That's just how we feel." Tucker took over once more as he sang into the mic with Danny doing a lingering sound.

"Am I wrong '_Am I wrong_'. For thinking that we could be something for real? '_Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah oh_'. Now am I wrong '_Am I wrong_'. For trying to reach the things that I can't see? '_Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah_'." Tucker hummed in glee that he knew that he was mildly tone-death, but he could hear his attempt and it felt amazing, to hear that voice coming through to him, maybe that mint that Cedric gave him before the first song was the key, what did he call it...? He shrugged mentally as he sang. "But that's just how I feel. That's just how I feel. That's just how I feel. Trying to reach the things that I can't see." Danny sung once more as he took over once again.

"If you tell me I'm wrong, wrong. I don't wanna be right, right. If you tell me I'm wrong, wrong. I don't wanna be right." Danny breathed as Tucker added several hey's to the next lines of his. "If you tell me I'm wrong, wrong. I don't wanna be right, right. If you tell me I'm wrong, wrong. I don't wanna be right." It drew out to a drum beat and claps with a few more hey's before Tucker took over into the quiet.

"Am I wrong. For thinking that we could be something for real? Now, am I wrong. For trying to reach the things that I can't see? But that's just how I feel, '_ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh_'. That's just how I feel '_ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh_' That's just how I feel. Trying to reach the things that I can't see." They went into chorus once more as they just sung it out, Ember's attempts giving her more frustration as the pair just sang as a team. "So am I wrong '_am I wrong_'. For thinking that we could be something for real? '_oh, yeah, yeah, yeah oh_'. Now am I wrong '_am I wrong_'. For trying to reach the things that I can't see? '_oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah_'." The African-American breathed as he felt eyes once more, but he disregarded them from the short pep talk that Cedric gave him of 'Don't let them control you here and now'. "But that's just how I feel. That's just how I feel. That's just how I feel. Trying to reach the things that I can't see." They gave a 'woot' as the song came to an end as Ember dropped to her knees as she couldn't manifest her power to keep going in trying to knock the huge blimp to the ground as the crowd cheered, only some still to Ember, but it was dying out like her hair as Cedric shouted.

"Thanks for giving us that awesome performance, you two, but we are not done yet!" Cedric turned as he shut off the mic as he spoke to Danny. "Grab Ember when this one comes to an end, I have some time on my hands." Danny nodded before he turned and, without warning, locked lips with Sam, surprising her as he parted and spoke.

"I'll be back."

_"Yeah..."_ Sam answered in a stupor as Phantom took form and headed out as a heavy strum from Cedric's guitar came as he sung with Talia taking center stage with her swift and devoted dance to the beat of the song.

"Like a gift from the heavens, it was easy to tell, It was love from above, that could save me from hell, She had fire in her soul, it was easy to see, How the devil himself could be pulled out of me."

Tucker played it as Cedric continued his praise, he the only one seeing the blush that Talia was holding.

"There were drums in the air as she started to dance, Every soul in the room keeping time with their hands, And we sang..." Cedric breathed before he let loose the chord. "Ay oh ay oh ay oh ay, And the voices rang like the angels sing, We're singing... Ay oh ay oh ay oh ay, And we danced on into the night, Ay oh ay oh, Ay oh ay oh, And we danced on into the night." He fell back to the guitar rocking.

"Like a piece to the puzzle that falls into place, you could tell how we felt from the look on our faces. We were spinning in circles with the moon in our eyes, no room left to move in between you and I. We forgot where we were and we lost track of time, and we sang to wind as we danced through the night, And we sang..." He pumped a fist as the echo of the guitar was resounded from the keyboard as Danny dropped down to the disbelief of Ember as she just watched as the blimp pounded out the music.

"Ay oh ay oh ay oh ay, And the voices rang like the angels sing. We're singing... Ay oh ay oh ay oh ay, And we danced on into the night. Ay oh ay oh, Ay oh ay oh, And we danced on into the night. Ay oh ay oh, Ay oh ay oh, And we danced on into the night. Cedric then ripped it into a guitar solo without a single issue as Talia just danced to the beat before it faded to a series of claps, Sam and Tucker confused as to how Cedric managed it before he sang again.

"Like a gift from the heavens, it was easy to tell, it was love from above, that could save me from hell. She had fire in her soul, it was easy to see, how the devil himself could be pulled out of me. There were drums in the air as she started to dance, every soul in the room keeping time with their hands. And we sang..." He went into the chorus once more as the guitar and music picked up.

"Ay oh ay oh ay oh ay, And the voices rang like the angels sing. We're singing... Ay oh ay oh ay oh ay, And we danced on into the night. Ay oh ay oh, Ay oh ay oh, And we danced on into the night. '_And the voices rang like the angels sing_'. Ay oh ay oh, Ay oh ay oh, And we danced on into the night. Ay oh ay oh ay oh ay, '_Ay oh ay oh_'. Ay oh ay oh ay oh ay, '_Ay oh ay oh_'. Singing ay oh ay oh ay oh ay, '_Ay oh ay oh_', And we danced on into the night..." The music came to an end as the crowd cheered before Danny cleared his throat to Ember's surprise.

"Exit stage left!" The Thermos fired as Ember screeched into the smoked blue as Danny capped it as the rest of Ember's band disappeared from sight as the crowd just cheered for the tri-performance as Danny flew back up and was met with Cedric, giving a fist bump to the Demi as he spoke, mic off for the moment.

"You did good, Phantom, you did real good, now get your butt in gear, you have already made the first move." Danny paused before Cedric turned and declared. "Thank for coming to this battle, we'll see you later!" The blimp headed away as the cheer filled the air as Danny turned back and wrapped his arms around Sam when she tackled him with one.

"Danny, that was awesome!" Her eyes popped before releasing with a blush, her mind still stolen by the sudden kiss. "Uh, I guess Ember's spell hasn't quite worn off." Tucker answered otherwise as he questioned.

"You were never under Ember's spell." The reaction to that was an elbow to Tucker's gut as Danny just smiled before he realized something.

"Oh wait... the testing..." Only Sam and Danny wore worried looks as Cedric took the Thermos from Danny and nodded as he moved on something, dropping the trio off for the scolding for a short trip...

* * *

Lancer huffed as he scolded at the class of students that failed the testing with the Principal there as well. "These standardized test scores are the worst in school history." He said with a hand on a stack of papers before him with the black board scribe with 'Homework Due Monday!' and 'Learning is hip!' as he continued to everyone wearing a CramTastic helmet as he continued. "No doubt due to the rampant late-night carousing prior to test day." However, he held up three sheets of paper that were marked with 'A's' on them as he continued with a smile. "However, three students' perfect score did manage to bring the entire school average up. And that's good news for my bonus." Ishiyama spoke next as she listed the trio that managed to do the feat, unaware of them being part of the same band that knocked Ember off the charts of control.

"Therefore, Tucker Foley, Cedric Trace, and Talia Rahmat are excused from this afternoon's mandatory CramTastic session." Tucker cheered as he lifted the helmet off his head as Cedric and Talia did the same with smiles as Tucker listed off.

"Yes!" Tucker pointed a finger to the class as he spoke. "This would an example of irony: a literary device employing the incongruity between what might be expected, and what actually occurs." Valerie huffed in disbelief as two girls crowd over to Tucker in praise.

"Tucker, we love you!" They headed off with Tucker's wrapping his arms around the pair of girls and heading out as Cedric and Talia locked fingers and waved good-bye.

"Take care and make sure you get it right this time, you guys."

"We know that they will, but still luck for them." Cedric playfully huffed as the pair left, Sam and Danny the only ones to see Cedric kiss Talia's cheek before Sam asked.

"I don't suppose you could release Ember and get us out of this?" Danny shook his head as he answered, knowing the danger, but he trusted his friend.

"Nope. Besides, she's a little busy right now." He answered with a head leaning back, neither of them knowing what Cedric was up to, but if it had anything to do with giving Ember a Demi form too, then they were in some trouble.

Still, faith in their friend had yet to fail as the pair headed out to the hidden home of Cedric...

* * *

"Are you positive about this, this sort of element is not native to the Zone..."

"We have to try in the very least, her power is rather hollow and we could use another hand to the mix."

"And if it doesn't...?"

"We have seen the effects of Element EZ on the lesser ghosts, they barely hold together, we need to use the serum on the more human-like figure, otherwise, these two weeks have been nothing short of troubling."

"...Alright, let us proceed."

"Yes; Injecting Serum EZ-65 'Demi Morph' into subject 'Ember McLain', stand by." No one knew what was happening, but change was indeed coming to Amity, not many knew of it though...


	12. S1 - Teacher of the Year

The layout was a digital place as a teen ran through the labyrinth before him before emerging outside to a green sky and surrounding, panic filling as something was chasing him with heavy stomps before he booked it for the light post where a key hung before the chaser emerged, black and violet armor adorning the figure with a scowl as the twin pistols fired and deleted the player, the rifle falling before the pair of Danny and Tucker, in cybernetic armor as Tucker started. "That's the trouble with these online video games, too many unqualified random players." In the Real World, Tucker typed away to the game as, at Fenton Works, Danny was doing the same with a helmet on his head as he spoke and typed back.

"I know what you mean... Nobody, but us has a clue..." His digital avatar glanced back from behind the wrecked wall as he continued. "...Except for that Chaos guy, that guy's unstoppable." Tucker was TOO confident in his own abilities as he spoke up from peering over the same wall.

"WAS unstoppable. Watch this!" Tucker exclaimed as he readied a pistol to Danny's look as he rushed out and pointed the weapon with the first mistake of taunting. "Hey Chaos, game over, nit-wit!" He fired, but Chaos jumped, landing with a turn around before firing at Tucker, launching him over the wall as Danny exclaimed to the damaged avatar.

"Still not stopped!" They screeched as Chaos fired on them before they booked it out of there, taking cover in one of the wrecked structures, but Chaos was far from done as the hunter pulled out a grenade and tossed it in, both grimacing to the weapon as Tucker yelped.

"Danny, I just want you to know..." The pair looked at each other as the bomb beeped. "...I accidentally killed your gerbil in the sixth grade." Danny yelped the reply.

"WHAT!?" The building erupted in violet energy, deleting the pair of them as Chaos just laughed at their failure as Tucker whined in his home.

"Ah man, smoked again!" Danny gave a surprise look before he too exclaimed.

"Darn it!" He huffed as he leaned forward. "I thought using the Fenton Helmet as my game controller would give me an edge..." He pulled it off to the flattened black of his hair. "...Not hat hair...!" He chucked it and it hit a button which was connected to the Ghost Zone, opening it up to a cackle as Danny gasped with his sense as the ghost that came out was a familiar foe as the guy just monologue with posing.

"Once again, I, Technus, master of all things electronic and beeping, am free once again to conquer this world." He laughed to Danny's surprise while mentally, he was scolding himself on how stupid he just threw that fit over a game. Technus flew over with ponder as Danny looked skeptic as the ghost spoke to the display of Chaos going at it in the game. "Although... that world looks more entertaining and the fashion sense is far superior. Perhaps it is there that I shall be king!" He lashed out a hand before Danny shoved him away with a call.

"Oh no, you don't!" He got into stance as he turned into Phantom and remarked at the flat head went back to it's spiky look. "Well, at least the hair's better." He took flight to fight as Technus made a circuit board that zapped Danny and bound him, but the outgoing electric current latched onto the computer and destroyed it as Technus remarked.

"Oh, that stinks." The doubt slipped away as Technus continued. "No matter, I shall return!" He flew over to the wall from Danny as he exclaimed. "So long, ghost boy!" He phased through the wall, releasing Danny from the power as he groaned before remarking.

"Oh great, constantly getting zapped in DOOM is bad enough..." Danny remarked with regret as he continued on looking at the spot where Technus disappeared through. "...But now I have to track down that loser?" The portal closed as he moaned. "I'll have to deal with it tomorrow." He grimaced as he looked at the clock on the wall, it SAYING that it was tomorrow as Danny exclaimed. "I-It is tomorrow!? I've been up all night!" He yawned as he continued to remark. "Ah well, one sleepy day of school and one lame ghost freed... What's the worst that can happen...?"

* * *

He really shouldn't have asked that question as he dozed right out for a test, Cedric and Talia rubbing their temples before she spoke to her 'boyfriend'. "You know, I thought that he would be more conscious of the time."

"Leave it to both Tucker and something unexpected to keep him up, he should have known better by now." Both shook their heads and resumed before Lancer called out from the front of the class.

"Pencils down! All tests in!" He glanced about before reached down, snatching the slumbering Danny's test and grimacing to the drool-covered piece of parchment. "Ah, teaching... Always rewarding." Not that much happened over the day as Danny did get back up from his slumber before going out on patrol for the annoying 'master of tech' as he conversed through a pair of Fenton Phones, wary of any more 'hypno' light shows as he mused.

"Last time, Technus fused a monster out of the junk from my dad's shed." He responded as he spoke into the Phones. "Be on the lookout for runaway appliances." Tucker rode on his electric scooter as he returned.

"Copy. The objective is to defeat the boss and power him down to Level Zero." Danny took over as Sam, Cedric, and Talia were on the search as well, explaining the 'Level Zero' nonsense.

"Uh, Level Zero is a no man's land, Sam." Danny answered as he walked down the side of a building. "It's a glitch in the DOOM program, if you get knocked into it, you're stuck there." Sam sighed as Cedric and Talia just peered about in the jeep.

"I cannot begin to tell you how interesting that is."

"If you were game-savvy, you'd know that." Tucker remarked as Talia joined in.

"Okay, can we stop, it sounds like you are being very rude to Miss Manson right now."

"It's a simple male mentality, Talia." Cedric answered as he continued to drive with skill. "Some guys don't believe that girls and females are able gamers, a bit rude indeed." They nearly let the fireworks erupt as Sam started in rage.

"Oh, really!? Let me tell you something!" Before she could lecture, she came to a stop as she exclaimed. "Hold up, I got something." Going into the park was a series of appliances as she continued. "Fast-moving garage sale headed east toward the park." They formed up as Technus just laughed to the tech bounty on hand.

"Yes! Come to me, beautiful technology, and together, we shall build a new body worthy of my greatness." The tech compacted and mounted as Technus continued. "Something sleek, stylish, and totally powerful! Yeah baby!" The five arrived with Sam and Tucker giving surprised looks while Talia, Danny, and Cedric stared with resolve as Danny spoke.

"Look familiar? Technus saw me playing DOOM last night and now he's trying to look like Chaos." Danny answered with narrowed brow as Tucker remarked.

"The way you play DOOM, he shouldn't be hard to beat."

"Ignoring that!" Danny peered back with the pair donning a serious look of fun as Phantom explained. "Okay, Tuck, here's what we'll do, you distract him with L2 throttle right manoeuvre and I'll power up and engage him in battle mode."

"What about me?" Sam questioned as Danny spoke in return.

"You stay here, Sam, You probably don't know OR care about the moves we're talking about here." Danny answered as Tucker added to it.

"Yeah, you'd just get in the way." They stood up as Sam glared before Cedric hummed and spoke as Talia, though angry as much as Sam, turned her attention to him more.

"This is the part where we watch as a pair of teen fools TRIES to conquer a tech-obsessed ghost in a digital avatar." The rev of an engine and Tucker took off as he exclaimed.

"Time to show him what five volts of manly battery power can really do!" He sped toward the behemoth as the ghost hurled a disc at Tucker to his uneasy dodge before... circling around the ankles as he called out. "I got him distracted! Hit him, Danny!" Hard to say that as Danny flew up and delivered a solid punch to the colossus. He went in for another beat down before he was swatted out of the air and crashed into the tree they were peering from, landing in front of Sam as she commented.

"So much for battle mode, huh?" Danny leveled a glance to Sam before he exclaimed.

"Okay, this calls for advanced mode with an intangibility bonus!" The pair just shook their heads as Danny took off again with his intangibility activated, soaring over to Tucker who was getting shot at before Danny saved him and he cheered.

"Yeah, boi! This is better than the gauntlet on DOOM in level nine!" He spoke too soon as Danny's own glee let the power slipped away and an ectoblast popped Tucker's back wheel, bringing them to a stop and the perfect target for Technus to hit with blasts from the eyes, but on reflex, Danny conjured a shield and the blast reflected back on Technus, toppling the titan as Danny exclaimed before questioning.

"Cool! How'd I do that?"

"NO!" Technus ranted as the new body sparked and surged with volts. "I, Technus, am getting tired of getting beaten by you!" Danny countered back.

"Yeah? Well, you, Technus, are gonna have to learn some new video game moves if you want to beat us!" Danny replied back with glancing over to a smug Tucker, but that single thought gave Technus an idea.

"You're right! I have all the style, but none of the substance. I must acquire these new skills, and I know exactly where I can do that!" Technus then pushed a red button on the body and the whole thing swelled up before exploding, the head crashing in front of the five of them as Tucker cheered, Danny feeling the victory being bittersweet for some reason.

"You won! Great job, Danny!" Sam, as always the voice of thought, lectured otherwise.

"What are you talking about? He self-destructed." Danny came close as he hummed in thought.

"I'm leaning toward Sam's point, he makes that big of a lecture and then just blows up? Something's not adding up here." He turned human and leaned on the head as he mused at the sweet taste of victory anyways. "Well, whatever! I'm here, he's gone and that means my work here is done." What he didn't notice was a wisp of green floating out of the jaw and into the Fenton Phones as his ghost sense went off and he peered about in confusion as Sam approached him, Cedric and Talia keeping a distance for a bit.

"Cool! So... what do you wanna do?" Tucker and Danny gave each other knowing smiles as they headed home, Sam paused as she looked Cedric and frowned. "You knew, didn't you..." She said with some grief as Cedric waved a hand.

"Just do what you do, we'll be along." She smiled and bolted as he looked to Talia. "Likely place of Technus?"

"The Fenton Phones Danny is wearing..."

"Right..." He hummed as he stretched and rolled his head as he continued. "Well, I don't have a reason to press this further right now." He extended his elbow to Talia. "I promised, didn't I?" She smiled as she looped an arm through and held.

"That was your vow, you have a place?"

"It's a fancy little spot, better than Nasty Burger, you'll love it." The pair headed off while, back at Fenton Works that Danny got to in time to do the DOOM, spend the last few hours grinding for the big moment as he called to Tucker.

"Okay, Tuck, just like in the park."

"I'm all over it!" The level loaded up and Chaos arrived, confronted with the pair of Tucker and Danny trying the tactic, but Chaos was not so fooled as Tucker was forced to swerve from getting hit, Danny with a jetpack was knocked out of the sky with a single, precise blast, before getting Tucker dropped on him when Chaos TRIPPED the hover scooter, deleting the both of them as Chaos laughed once more to the GAME OVER as Danny exclaimed.

"Oh man! It was like he was three steps ahead of us!" He glanced to the clock and grimaced as the clock read five-thirty AM, meaning one thing for him as he removed the helmet with a groan. "Another all-nighter." He yawned with departing, heedless of the tech ghost popping out of the Phones and zapping into the game, forming as a tri-legged abomination with a brain in a jar as he crackled with greedy intent...

* * *

The day started as usual as Lancer spoke. "By and large, I'm pleased with the test results, I know that the poetry of the Nineteenth century is enough to put one to sleep..." He announced before pulling out Danny's test, with a F on the front of it, as he slapped it down in front of a groggy Danny. "This, however, borders on sarcasm." The bell rang and the students stormed out as Danny made to go as well before Lancer's voice spoke up. "A word, Danny?" To the disapproving face, Danny sat back down as Lancer went off in explaining. "Danny, when a teacher looks at his student, he 'hopes' to see the reflection of his own abilities." That crossed a smile on Lancer's face before he frowned at Danny. "When I look at you, I see my own 'F'." He planted his hands on the desk as he inquired. "I don't like to fail, do you?" Danny went off as he tried to explain.

"M-Mr. Lancer, I-I can explain...!"

"I-I need no explanations, I need results!" Lancer cut Danny off as he inquired. "So you know what I'm gonna do?" The first thought of Danny's was to 'pass him so he doesn't look bad', but he debated it before asking.

"You're going to give me a second chance to take the test after some studying?" Lancer laughed before he continued.

"Yes, I am going to give you the opportunity to do better, I'm making you retake the test." Danny felt the naive side stammer on the stupid test, but he pushed it down as he asked.

"How much was the test?"

"A quarter of your final grade." Danny blinked before he counted on his fingers and Lancer rolled his eyes as he spoke. "That's twenty-five percent, in case you're failing math as well. You have three days to study for the make-up, get it?" Danny slumped down in his seat as he replied.

"Got it, sir..." Danny left and he KNEW that he should be studying, but his mind was focused on victory against Chaos as, later at an internet cafe, Danny was going through DOOM before he exclaimed. "I got it! If you crack the safe at Mega-Mart, you get an extra life!" Danny went to work on typing on the keyboard as Sam arrived, surprising the pair of them while Cedric and Talia soon approached as well.

"That extra live will come in handy when Lancer kills you for flunking again." Tucker decided to open his mouth as he commented, now focused on the goth who was there now.

"What's she doing here? She can't be here to play." Cedric rolled his eyes as he turned to Talia.

"Talia, zipper over the mouth, only Danny and Sam can open it and it disappears when they leave."

"With pleasure." Tucker moved to speak before his mouth was zipped shut to Talia's briefly glowing hands and he struggled with a look of spite for the action as Sam commented back, slightly chuckling at how easy it was to shut Tucker up.

"Oh? Because I'm a girl? And us girls are lacking in what? Opposable thumbs, one track minds, stupid berets?" There was a muffled 'hey' as Tucker placed a hand on his beret in grief as Danny spoke up again with some regret.

"As much as I hate to really say it, Sam's got a point, I probably should be studying." He glanced over to Tucker as he asked, grabbing the latch on Tucker's mouth. "Tuck?" The mouth was opened and Tucker spoke, looking just as normal as always under the zip line given.

"I'll stick to goofing off." He resumed playing as he commented. "We're gonna need all the ammo we can get if we wanna defeat Chaos." Danny huffed as he shook his head as he commented himself.

"Chaos is a video game avatar, Lancer is an actual person and hates me. I mean, imagine him scowling at me for being in here." He shook his head as he continued. "I can already hear the disappointment he has for me only."

"Well, I wouldn't go too far with that assumption." Danny looked behind him and found Lancer staring at him, meaning he was in trouble as, in DOOM, Technus was testing out his new body.

"My last form was unstable and I was unable to conceal myself from those annoying children, but this new body is much more..." He paused as he thought about it. "How would the kids say it today? Far out!" He straightened up as he continued. "In this new body, they shall never know it's me... Technus!" He near-exclaimed as another voice spoke up.

"Yo newbie!" Tucker landed and fired the bazooka he got with an exclaim. "Look out!" The blast flew true as it deleted a barbaric monster that was going to attack Technus as the ghost praised the success.

"Excellent!" He stamped over as he continued with praise. "You are quite the game player, bespectacled one." Tucker let that praise fill his ego as he returned volley.

"Thanks, I know a few moves." He twirled the blaster in hand before accidentally letting it fly as Technus inquired, Tucker still not aware of who he was talking to.

"Perhaps you can teach me these 'moves' of which you speak, then I can become as 'hip' and 'far out' as you." Yet somehow, Tucker still didn't clue in as he exclaimed.

"Hip? Far out? Wow! You do need help. Fortunately, you came to the right place. Step into my office." Tucker gestured to a portal and the pair walked through it as Tucker explained the game level and witnessed Technus use his 'ghost powers' to cheat the game, but he was still an idiot to the identity of who he was helping as the pair were then confronted by a trio of 'Shaolin Wushu War Lords' while Danny was being driven home by Lancer as the man lectured a bit.

"Playing an internet video game is hardly the stuff of human drama, Danny." Danny countered as he explained.

"But it's fun... and frustrating, 'cause of this 'Chaos' player."

"Fun is relative, when I see a student passing through the portals of Casper High for the last time, brimming with the knowledge it takes to make it in the outside world, to me, that's fun." Lancer beamed as Danny questioned.

"That sounds like you don't often go out or something, sir."

"And you need to stay in more and here are a couple of people who will make you do just that!" M. Lancer exclaimed as he pulled up to the house and Danny grew fearful to the pair standing outside of the house.

"My parents!?" The window rolled up, but Danny knew that he was in trouble. Meanwhile, Tucker and Technus blasted through the foes before Technus asked the big question.

"Now what exactly is the purpose of this 'skill' contest?"

"To defeat all foes, reach Level Thirteen, and retrieve the Seven Silver Keys to the Apocalypse." Tucker voiced as he brought up a display for the keys as Technus continued the question.

"And what happens after that?"

"Gain ultimate power and access to the World Wide Web!"

"Very well..." Technus then unleashed a powerful speech of domination. "Then, I, Technus, shall use my ghost powers and newfound gaming prowess to win the game and spread my intellect to every machine in the world!" He paused as he realized something. "My, that was a long speech." Tucker FINALLY clued in as he exclaimed.

"What!? Technus!?"

"BINGO, BOOBY! GAME OVER!" Technus blasted Tucker before he mused. "That was fun!" In the Real World, Tucker was panicking as he exclaimed.

"Oh no! Technus is in the game and he is able to use his ghost powers! I better stop him before he gets to the Internet!" Easier said then done as, Technus's power gave him the advantage of bypassing most of the game within reason while Tucker was not given those powers in the game and progressed with a crawl, but still he chased the ghost through the game, hoping that he could stop the mad man...

* * *

"Lazy, unfocused, ill prepared, lethargic! Need I go on?" Lancer commented as he read off a notepad of how Danny was not doing so well as Danny tried, Jazz even staying back as she could see that he needed help, but she couldn't provide that right now.

"Dad, I..."

"That's enough of your sass talk, mister!" Maddie spoke up as she asked Lancer.

"What do you suggest, Mr. Lancer?" The aging man rested a hand on Danny's shoulder as he explained.

"Danny will pass, I know he's capable, but I'd like him to spend his after-school hours in my office studying until I administer the make-up exam." Jazz made to pipe up, but Danny shook his head and she nodded as Lancer continued as if understanding the silent conversation. "Ah, but consider this, Danny, if you fail, you may be held back a year. If it's boring once, imagine taking it again" Maddie cut into the threat-filled reply as she pointed out genius.

"Get this straight, Danny, You're a Fenton. Fentons get A's, or in your father's case, B minuses."

"Solid B minuses." Jack grumbled as Maddie continued.

"Until you retake this test and pass with flying colours, we are forbidding all access to electronic devices." She finished as a cell went off and Danny pulled his own to see who was calling.

"It's Tucker..." Unfortunately, the act was passed as Jack snatched the phone and shouted.

"HE'S BUSY!" He crushed the phone as Tucker fought in vain against Technus, getting deleted again as Technus doubled in size and mass as the ghost commented.

"Interesting. I seem to grow stronger with each vanquished foe."

"This is bad." Tucker commented with phone to his ear as he commented. "He's figuring the game out. Why won't Danny answer?"

"Maybe he's busy." Sam commented on the line as she inquired. "Could you use a hand?"

"Fat chance. It's every man for himself." Tucker reloaded and was deleted just the same as Sam commented with sarcasm.

"Every man, huh?" Chaos appeared in the game with a turn before the face change to have a monitor look of Sam as Tucker exclaimed in surprise.

"WHAT! You're Chaos!?"

"If you were game-savvy, you'd know that." Tucker slumped as the following day had the friends in the gym playing basketballs as Sam mocked the pair of guys while Talia was having a time observing their confusion, Cedric watching as well as he switched between them and his PDA on hand. "'I'm GhostBoy! I'm FryerTuck! We don't need your help because you're a girl.'" She crossed her arms with amusement as Tucker finally shouted.

"Alright! Alright! Enough already!" Tucker threw the ball, but it just bounced off as Danny spoke up.

"I can't believe it was you dusting us this whole time! Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"I tried to, but between the condescension and the cockiness, I barely had time for anything else!" She played with the ball that rolled in front of her before she tossed the ball and scored as Tucker spoke to Danny, neither of them really involving Cedric as he didn't seem like much of a gamer.

"Well, the main thing is, Sam can help me fight Technus while you're out of commission." Sam's brow narrowed as Tucker corrected for safety. "I mean... I can help Sam." Danny huffed as he replied.

"What a mess! It's my fault Technus is out there while I'm stuck studying the world's dullest subject." He huffed as Sam came over while Talia and Cedric headed off for something.

"Just leave everything to us, Danny, Technus may have the power, but we got the moves." She tossed the ball once more and scored again as she continued. "I've got lots of cheat codes and secret power-ups in my arsenal. Of course, you guys must know all of those too, right?" The pair glanced at each other before Sam continued with a smile. "Weird, the girls do, maybe you guys need to communicate better." The moment was shattered by Lancer as he called out from the entrance to the Gym.

"Danny Fenton! My classroom now!" Danny headed out, pausing as he found Cedric waiting a bit as Lancer spoke. "Mr. Trace, what are you doing here, I believe that the exam is only for..."

"Yeah, I know, Lancer sir, just wanted to part some friendly words to the student from another." Lancer paid it little mind as he headed in, Cedric glancing to Danny as he spoke. "Focus only on the exam, treat it as an emergency, you can't be a hero if you neglect yourself." Danny raised a brow as Cedric pushed off and headed out. "Just, don't turn from your studies, Jazz and us helped you, but now you need to do this on your own, don't worry about your friends, focus on your exam and understand the meaning if you just give up."

Cedric headed out as Danny commented. "Weird..." He got to work, studying, but it really was a dull subject as Danny felt his eyes droop now and then before an hour passed and Lancer was still grading several papers before Danny near-yelped as he slipped through intangible before he got up and stretched as Lancer commented.

"Going somewhere, Mr. Fenton?" Danny answered with a stretch and pop.

"Just stretching my legs." He glanced down to the top-most paper and spoke with a filter in boredom. "Oh, writing your sister, huh?" He paused before he fully inquired. "You have a sister?" Lancer reached over to the photo of a 'woman' in a pink flower dress, red curly hair, and what appear to be both facial hair and chest hair as Lancer remarked.

"I haven't seen her in ages, can't afford the plane fare." He glanced to Danny as he explained on. "You know, this would be an excellent time for you to say 'Gosh, Mr. Lancer, I never realized being a teacher could be so difficult'." He leveled a glance to Danny as he stammered.

"I'm fourteen, I didn't really think about it that much." Lancer huffed as he commented.

"Yes, yes, 'course." He paused before breathing again. "Gonna get some air." Lancer headed out as Danny turned with a comment.

"Gotta cross teacher off 'what I wanna be when I grow up' list." His eyes landed on the computer before he looked around and near-moved for the device before he stopped. "...What am I doing, Sam and Tucker are handling Technus, buying time for me, but what am I doing about it, being a coward and just wanting to play games instead of studying, what kind of person am I to do that...?" He sat in the seat and rested his arms on the desk before he stood back up and stopped at his desk, picking the book up before he paused and spoke to himself. "...Wait a minute... maybe..." He glanced to the door and moved toward it and found Lancer, rubbing his temples as he would have been doing if Danny yielded to the temptation of games, before he asked. "Um, in the poem, The Tyger, why does he rhyme the words I in symmetry?"

Thankfully, Lancer answered, looking hopeful about the question. "The poem was written in the early eighteen hundreds, I'm sure there were multiple ways to pronounce that word." Danny took it further with sitting beside Lancer as he continued with the book.

"And it's Blake, right? William Blake?"

"Actually, yes. There were actually other poems he wrote that used the same form of rhyme scheme."

"Really? Which ones?" From the corner, Cedric smiled as he had taken a moment to make sure that Danny did the right thing, the look of hope true as he headed off for real.

"Now, that is the sign of a good student, always needing help and willing to ask for the aid that they need." Meanwhile, Tucker and Sam did their best, but they were helpless to the ghost powers and Technus advanced further and further into DOOM, even turning into a more spider-like being as Danny studied without pause before he breathed with the book closing.

"Well, it's now or never and it better be now. I've got less than an hour before Technus gets to the last level, I suspect." With that, Lancer gave the exam and Danny worked it over, the time studying for the exam truly coming in handy before he finished and Lancer graded it over, Danny nervous before Lancer gave the end result.

"Ninety-one."

"Ninety-one?" Danny's heart soared as he exclaimed. "Ninety-one! I aced it?"

Lancer hummed before he replied. "Just barely, but yes, you aced it."

"YES! I knew I could do it!" He paused as he realized that he could always do it, it just took a moment of recognition to get it. "Hey, I did, I did know I could do it. Thanks." Lancer huffed as he pointed it out.

"Yes, well, don't think this means I won't be keeping an eye on you, Fenton."

"Don't think this mean you won't have to!" Danny cheered with the paper in hand as he cheered out of the room. "I ACED IT!" Lancer just smiled as he plucked the photo up, used for his 'I don't get to see my sister' speech as always before pointing out the truth of it to himself, it was just him in a dress...

* * *

Danny quickly got back to his home, planted his test results in front of his parents, and rushed down to get into DOOM as he exclaimed. "Hey, guys, I'm here and I aced the test."

"Dude, that's great!" Tucker typed back as he asked. "Did you get a hundred?"

"No, I got an A minus, a solid A minus." Danny grinned in the game as Tucker and Sam pursued Technus who now has five of the seven keys.

"We're in level Thirteen, Technus has five of the seven silver keys, and if he gets the last two, he's king of the world wide web!" Danny was faced with a different issue as he was just as swiftly pinned down by hostile fire as he exclaimed.

"It'll take me forever to reach level thirteen!" The pair in said level tried to Technus, but he just went intangible as Tucker exclaimed.

"He's using his ghost powers! We can't stop him!" Suddenly, the answer clicked for Danny as he exclaimed.

"Ghost powers! Ugh, I'm such an idiot!" Danny typed his reply to his friends on what he just realized. "Technus used his ghost powers in the game, so... why can't I, right?" Pulling the helmet off, he went ghost and zapped himself into the game, his avatar changing just the same to match a digital Phantom avatar as he remarked. "Alright, I'm in. This had better work..." He took flight and soar, using his intangibility to zoom through without injury as he exclaimed. "Excellent, I'm learning all over the place." He chuckled to the missing fire. "Swee-e-et! My powers are the ultimate cheat code!" He zoomed through the truck and headed into the next level as Technus, on Thirteen exclaimed in glee.

"Yes! Two more keys, then I, the new improved Technus, shall become the hip modern ruler of the world!" He crackled before getting blasted off the large entrance to the web, he glancing to the keys and making a beeline for them, phasing through the blasts with ease before crushing the pair of monsters guarding the keys and snatching one with a laugh. "I, Technus, am totally frying your bacon!"

"Well, that's one thing he hasn't upgraded, his catchphrases." Tucker remarked as Technus just continued to taunt.

"You are no match for me for I am Technus, Master of..."

"Master of Long-Winded Introductions!" Danny shouted as he arrived. "Do you ever stop talking about yourself?" Chaos's face resumed to using Sam as she exclaimed.

"Do something, Danny, we're one key away from a catastrophe! Oh, and congrats on the A" Danny chuckled as he generated energy into his palms.

"Thanks." He fired, but Technus blocked it with a reflect, slamming Danny out of the air as Technus made to grab the final key before he was blasted away by Sam, weakening him and shrinking him down as Danny commented. "He's vulnerable, keep hammering him." Tucker added to the damage as Technus barely got up, just to get exploded by Tucker's bomb before he took flight and the trio met up as Sam questioned.

"Do you think he gave up?"

"Negative! INCOMING!" Danny shouted as Technus returned atop a flaming boulder before Sam and Tucker came up with a plan.

"Hey Tuck, Remember that mega cheat I told you about?"

"Time to bust it out?"

"Time to bust it out." Sam answered as she bolted the other way as she exclaimed to the pair still on the offense. "Hold Technus off 'til I get back." The pair fired away, but with the rock, their shots went wide, but not for Technus as he fired back, knocking both of them away as Danny got trapped in a plant while Tucker made a break for the final key with Technus missing before crashing, the rumble felt as Sam arrived to a series of totems, lifting a small one up before hurling it into the mouth of one of the giant ones, creating a portal as she exclaimed.

"Here goes everything!" She leapt in as Tucker dove for the key, just as Technus, jumping off the boulder on impact, slammed into Tucker, knocking him back and deleting him as Danny exclaimed.

"Tucker!" He supercharged the plant, exploding it and landing in front of Technus, mere moments from grabbing the last key.

"The game is over, victory is mine!" The ghost taunted as he continued. "Any last requests, child?" Technus inquired with hand reaching the key.

"Um... yeah." Danny smiled as he crossed his arms. "Could you take out the trash, Sam?"

"WITH PLEASURE!" Sam exclaimed as a giant foot crushed Technus, she now in a cheat code that made the avatar into a titan of Islander origins as Danny remarked.

"Hey, not bad, better than me, but I kinda want to be a bit manly, you know."

"Slightly ignoring that." Sam answered as she plucked the now-crushed Technus up. "Care to lend a hand?" Danny was happy to as he soared off to the edge of the program before tearing a hole in it for Sam to toss the bug into as the ghost stammered to his new surroundings.

"What? Where am I?"

"It's level Zero." Danny answered as he peered down the hole. "It's a glitch in the program, one way in, no way out."

"Now listen here... young whippersnapper! I, Technus, am hip and funky fresh and..." Anymore was lost as Danny released, closing the program back up as he finished with his own line.

"...Totally out of date." He flew back over as Tucker reformed with a comment.

"Good thing, I upgraded my anti-virus program. Did I miss anything?"

"Just the most awesome display of gamesmanship ever!" Tucker gasped as he lashed out, snatching the final key as he exclaimed.

"Hey, guys, we got the Seven Silver Keys to the Apocalypse, all we have to do is open the door and we'll win the game!" It was truly a moment of excitement as they watched the key go in before all three of them was deleted with all going through the same confusion, Danny launching out of the game and into the lab wall as he exclaimed in confusion of what just happened.

"Who on earth could've done that?" The answer came when the seventh key, dropped by Tucker, was plucked up by a violet-armored individual, but it was the face that shocked them as Mr. Lancer exclaimed with key held high.

"Once again, I have the seventh silver key and I am victorious! Me! MR. LANCER!" He paused from his seat in the classroom before hanging his head. "I gotta stop doing that." The trio were in shock as the avatar continued. "Now, time to insert the key and victory is truly mine..."

"I find your lack of belief disturbing..." Lancer turned to the imposing figure that had appeared and Danny, Tucker, and Sam watched as DOOM history was made, they had heard of the figure, but never had gazed upon the mad doctor appearance of respirator, bellowing cloak, and mechanical parts as the two faced off with Lancer scowling to the figure.

"Calamity...!"

"DangerGame..." A clawed finger pointed as the legendary figure spoke. "Your victory has come to fall, surrender the key freely or perish."

"I am onto your tricks, Calamity, you will not catch me off-guard this time." Sudden, a bladed circle pierced through Lancer's chest as a second figure had appeared, seductive and alluring of a harem girl, but chains wrapped the wrists, ankles, and collared to the neck, head hidden in a large cloak like Calamity, with both hands holding chakrams, with one cutting through.

"I believe you don't know all of my tricks, DangerGame." Lancer was deleted and Calamity laughed before he took the keys and replaced them once more, the game turning off as the trio and teacher were still unaware of WHO Calamity truly was...


	13. S1 - Thirteen

Amity Park, a safe place to live, if you don't mind the rampant ghosts and spirits that now flood the night as the six went on patrol, Danny contending with a ghost squid that roared and backed up with Danny getting close before firing jets of ink at him as he exclaimed in dodging. "Hey! Easy on the ghost ink, I just had this suit cleaned!" He glared at the ghost before he lashed out with the Thermos, absorbing the squid in and dealing with that before his phone rang and he picked up, the Fenton Phones currently in Cedric's care for some adjustments as Sam panted on the other end.

"Wolf thing... Big ghost wolf thing... was down by the Nasty Burger..." At that time, Sam looked over to the finishing Iron Exorcist as he had beaten the wolf down before absorbing it into his Thermos, as he capped and turned as he spoke, the suit not available to engage wireless connections to their group.

"I am not sure if I should speak, but I recall that you wanted to spend time with Danny and he with you?" Sam glowed red as she stammered, Danny still on the line as he glowed the same.

"N-Now is not the time." Danny huffed as he took over in exhaust.

"What a night..." He breathed as he continued with a rub to his head across the line. "Every time I turn around, there's another ghost." The phone rang and Danny cut the party chat short as he answered the next call to Tucker's frantic call.

"Danny, ghost snake, by the park!" On que, Tucker ran for it before his pack somehow tripped him up and spilled his tech gear on the stone walk before he remarked with exhausted eyes.

"I gotta stop carrying so much geek-gear, it's gonna be the death of me..." He glanced up with fearful eyes as the ghost cobra found him and he exclaimed in terror. "Literally!" The creature coiled to strike, but a coil of rope snatched the jaw as Talia arrived with one hand the coil gripping the snake and the other pulling hard to keep the beast in place before Valerie, taking the training on the field, soared in and fired, knocking the beast to the side as the Red Huntress exclaimed in confusion and huff.

"Where are all these ghosts coming from!?" The answer would have been simple if Danny called home to Jazz as she watched with Maddie as Jack pressed his thumb into a genetic scanner installed for the Ghost Portal, not sure HOW it was meant to be working in the end as he started.

"I told ya, this genetic lock was a great invention." He resumed pressing the button as he continued to explain to Jazz and Maddie. "It's a perfect way to prevent any unauthorized access to the Ghost Zone." Unfortunately, he was completely blind to the fact of him releasing ghosts from behind him with the two family members watching as well as, on the other side of the repeating opening of doors, ghosts were lined up and ready to get out of the Zone for a time as a motorcycle roared on coming up the lineup as the rear rider exclaimed, a red-eyed, green-haired chick that looked like a bad girl with ring, scarf, and jacket on, to her greaser-looking boyfriend.

"You sure we're gonna make it?"

"Ah, relax, will ya? Trust me." The boyfriend smiled before he exclaimed on the drive, looking down to the rocky ground. "Shadow!" A dark thing slipped from under the bike as the rider lashed out his hand in a command. "Keep the portal open!" The thing parted to form a full-fleshed shadow ghost as it lunged for the portal and made to hold it open, but it was clear that there was strain on the creature's body as the girlfriend exclaimed once more with concern.

"I don't know if using that stupid bad luck Shadow of yours is a good idea, Johnny." But Johnny dismissed the notion as he revved the vehicle faster, the ghosts jumping out of the way as Shadow finally released, slipping back onto the bike as it soared into the swirling vortex that divided the Zone from the other side the door made to close, the bike making it, but not without consequence as the girlfriend screamed from a bundle of hair getting caught and electrocuting her, she falling to the solid ground of the swirling vortex as Johnny pulled to a stop in terrified concern.

"KITTY!" He shouted as Kitty pulled herself up in dismay.

"I knew it! I can't maintain my form, I'm split between here and the Ghost Zone." Her form wavered as Johnny gasped with widened eyes before she quickly pulled off the jacket, scarf, and ring before empowering them as she explained. "I spread my energy into my stuff, get some girl to wear them so I can reform around her to make up for the body you just fried." He grimaced as he folded the stuff in hand as she continued in remorse. "I gotta go back into the Ghost Zone before I completely fall apart." She hissed before extending a hand out as she called out with fading back into the Zone. "Don't forget me, Johnny! Don't forget me!" Johnny readied up as he exclaimed to the fading girl that he got into peril.

"You got it, baby! I'll find you a new host. I promise!" He revved it and bolted toward the entrance as Jack continued to explain.

"Now that I've installed this genetic scanner, the only way to open the Fenton Portal is if someone in the family does this..." He pressed his thumb into the scanner, recognizing his print and opened the portal, the rev of Johnny's bike roaring past them, racing past them, as Jack exclaimed. "Suffering Spooks! Where's Danny!?" He smiled as he continued. "I bet he'll love this." Jazz moved on making a small excuse as she was NOT informed that Jack actually knew of Danny's ghost abilities, but neither knew that Maddie was still clueless.

"Oh, well, I'm sure wherever he is, it has nothing much to do with ghosts at all." Little did she realize that Johnny was lurking around still and quietly gasped before he grinned with a cracked tooth and a whisper.

"Hello, new girlfriend..." The time of trouble starting once more as Danny and friends would soon find their luck tested against the ghost who controls some bad luck, Johnny 13...

* * *

Night still hung over Amity as Tucker found his time being spent on talking to a girl he came across and inquiring. "I was kind of hoping we could hit a movie or something?"

"Okay." The girl replied, now if only Tucker DIDN'T try to push it further.

"Alright, but I'll have you know, I'm persistent..." He paused from his long rant before he spoke again. "Wait, did you say okay?" He quickly pulled out his tech as he continued. "Do you want to beam me your phone number? We can share ringtones." It was too apparent that he was desperate and he ruined it as the girl headed off with disgust.

"No thanks, techno-geek!" Tucker groaned before he exclaimed to the departing figure.

"I am not a techno-geek!" He shouted as he slammed his stuff to the ground before reacting in terror as he scooped up the gear in pleading. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" On the other side of town, Danny quickly arrived to where Talia and Valerie were fighting and the Red Huntress was launched into the wall, panting as Danny quickly caught her and shook off the rubble from his hair from taking the impact.

"Oh, come on!" He breathed as he continued. "We've been fighting ghosts for twenty-four hours, can't one be easy!?" The cobra freed itself and lunged for the pair, but Danny turned intangible and slipped behind with Thermos in hand, having grabbing it from Valerie's belt. "So long, Slinky!" The device blasted and captured the snake before he capped it and tossed it to Valerie who, just as easily, caught it before both of the ghost senses went off as Talia lightly groaned.

"Oh please, let there only be one more remaining..." The trio turned as a chopper roared out of the nearby alleyway and Danny took after it, none of them noticing that the ring glowed and the pale rider looked at it as a female voice came through.

"What's taking so long?"

"I'm trying to find the right girl for you to take over." The guy stammered as he continued in concern. "I mean, if I gotta look at her face for all eternity, I wanna make sure I like it, dig?" The call cut as the bike tore past a park before Danny had caught up, addressing the ghost and drawing the guy's attention.

"Um, sir? I believe you are speeding right now." The ghost shouted back in anger.

"I'll show you speeding!" He lashed out an arm from the handlebars. "Shadow, attack!" The very shadow erupted in a ghastly form of a ghost as it charged for Danny.

"What the...!?" Anymore was lost with a uppercut, knocking him down as the bike and rider slammed into the side of a building and drove up as the attacking thing slashed a street light, causing it to fall on Danny, giving him little time to roll away, but at the cost of his Thermos, destroying it and releasing his share of ghosts as he huffed in disbelief. "AUGH! Of all the rotten luck!" He grimaced with sitting up, pulling free the broken tech before he glanced up to the ghost just smiling atop the building before driving off with the ghost in tow as Talia and Valerie arrived as the Huntress helped Danny up.

"Are you alright, Danny?"

"No, I just lost my ghosts to some greaser-looking punk on a bike and his pet shadow." He gazed up to the spot where the ghost had been as he continued. "In any case, I better round up those ghosts, shouldn't take too long."

"Get going, I got some work to do at home... and no discharges on my bag lunches."

"I am actually fond of you eating what I cook when you come around." Valerie rolled her eyes in the suit to Talia's muse as the team hunted the ghosts down...

* * *

The following day had the team walking the way through an ongoing carnival at dusk. "And because of some stupid shadow, we had to spend another night rounding up the same ghosts again!"

"Still, a ghost biker with a sentient shadow..." Talia hummed with finger to her jaw as Sam asked Tucker for support.

"Maybe you could do a web search on shadow ghosts on your PDA." The tech guy made to do so before the device was snatched out of his hands and flaunted by Kwan as he teased Tucker.

"Check me out! I'm Tucker Foley, styling large with the latest in techno-geek fashion!"

"Dude, you do that a little too well." Dash pointed out from his position beside Kwan as the jock peered at the device before he yelped in fear and made a book for it, swiftly dropping the PDA into Tucker's hands.

"Techno-geek is contagious!" After a moment of surprise, Tucker frowned with him looking at the device before he shouted angrily.

"Alright, that's it!" He slapped the PDA into Sam's hand, knocking the popcorn that she was eating out of her hands as he continued. "Here, you take it, I'm sick of being labelled! By the end of the day, nobody's gonna call Tucker Foley techno-geek anymore!" He stormed off with the four following for company, Valerie messaging that she had a larger stack than expected, as they pass the older Fenton.

Jazz was close by, but she was trying to psychoanalyze the pictures of clowns that she found as she spoke. "Sure, he's smiling on the outside, but I can sense the tortured soul just below the surface."

"No, he's smiling on the inside too." The artist clown replied with a belch while, on the power lines up above, the punk ghost drove on as he pointed the ring to Jazz as he exclaimed.

"There, that's her! The kid of that big, fat idiot who fried your body."

"Hmmm, she'll do for now." He drove on before grinning to a parked truck and commanded.

"Shadow, truck!" The blob fired expanded into the ghost as the five passed the truck as Tucker TRIED to think of other ways to be recognized from being a techno-geek.

"Maybe I could be the funny guy or the smooth guy..." He continued his thoughts as he passed under a ladder and continued, heedless of what he just did. "...Or maybe..." He was cut short with ramming into a fist, wincing back to Dash's smirk and Kwan's exclaim.

"Check it out! He just walked under a ladder, into your fist!"

"Hey, maybe we should call him Bad Luck Tuck." Cedric raised a brow to the two jocks ready to pummel Tucker as the geek exclaimed in surprise before anger.

"What? No! I am not bad luck!" He backed up to the truck, heedless of what just entered it as the creature looked around before snatching the parking gear and ripping it off as Danny exclaimed himself.

"No, but I think I know what is." Tucker barely tapped the truck before it ran away, now free from parking as Danny exclaimed to the barreling vehicle. "Oh great! More bad luck!" His eyes flashed before he headed off to change. The truck busted the roller-coaster supports and launched one of the rides off the track, but Phantom was on the scene as he soared over, saving a plump guy who saved the two kids in front of him, the last kid ended up falling into the ball pit with relative safety before another scream rang out and Danny exclaimed. "Jazz!"

The ride was on a crash course with her, paralyzed in place at the incoming projectile before a chopper roared past, its rider snatching Jazz before the cart slammed into the fence and the guy came to a stop as Jazz spoke in surprise to the smiling biker.

"I... you..." She paused before smiling, thankful for the save as the guy smiled back as Danny rushed over as Fenton, the party joining as well.

"Jazz, are you alright?" Jazz got off the bike as she started to explain with frazzled hair.

"I'm fine, thanks to..." The rider gave his name as a moment of surprise and smile back.

"Johnny. The name's Johnny." Jazz blinked back as Johnny whispered at Danny as Talia narrowed her brow, Cedric noticing and nodding. "Shouldn't you be somewhere else?"

"No, got no cats to save, just got a biker on my hands." The pair looked ready to duke it out before Jazz intervened.

"Danny! Don't be rude!" Danny lowered his fists, but not his frown as Jazz shook Johnny's hand to the biker's surprise, not realizing that he was cold for some reason. "Hi. I'm Jasmine. Jazz." She glanced down before giving a disgusted sound as she took in her look in the handlebar mirror. "Wow! I look like I was almost run over by a roller-coaster." Johnny spoke again as he tried to be smooth.

"We..." He stopped before rephrasing as he glanced about before back to Jazz. "...Excuse me, I mean, I... think you look perfect, Kitten, but here..." He dug into his jacket before pulling out a green thing that quickly formed into a purple scarf and continued. "I bet you'd look great in this." Jazz took it in hand as both Fentons spoke, Jazz a bit pleased for the comment while Danny was defensive.

"Her/My name's not Kitten." She put it on and Talia looked ready to hurt someone when Jazz glanced to Danny suddenly before elbowing him as she swooned over Johnny. "But you can call me that if you want."

"Ride home, Kitten?" Without another word and excited, Jazz jumped on and put the spare helmet on before Johnny left the trio there in the dust as Danny growled.

"I am going to kill that guy."

"Best you do..." Talia hissed before running a hand over her face before continuing to explain it to both of them while Tucker was being 'praised' as Bad Luck Tuck and Sam's assurance in vain of him not being called techno-geek anymore. "That was Johnny Thirteen, a ghost whose own powers reside with his aid Shadow, bad luck is but one part of their strength."

"But there is more, correct?" Cedric asked as he crossed his arms as the three headed out, sending a text to Danny's two friends to head out soon.

"Johnny is a daredevil and a flirt, but he is balanced out by Kitty, his girlfriend, and that scarf is hers..." Cedric hummed as he spoke to the pair of them.

"Then we need to find out what has happened and I think we can start the search in the same place..."

* * *

Danny headed out with his two helping hands to see Johnny's bike in front of Fentonworks as he exclaimed. "He's here!? Oh, man, this can't be good." Inside, Johnny and Jazz conversed like old buddies as she asked.

"You do have a last name, right?"

"Yeah, but everybody calls me Johnny Thirteen, I kind of got this reputation for being... unlucky." Johnny answered as Jazz aided the part.

"Well, you were pretty lucky for me." Somehow, Johnny pulled out a red jacket as he remarked in handing it to her.

"Here, try this on." She pulled it on before getting a bit more interested in Johnny as the two made to kiss before both were interrupted by the opening and closing of the front door, Danny glaring at the pair as Johnny glared back before Cedric whistled and spoke.

"If looks could actually kill, Johnny would be eighteen under, that is a brother glare." He mused as the trio headed into the next room, waiting for Johnny's move as he turned to Jazz in asking.

"Hey, ain't you got a place in here where we can... uh, you know, be alone? Like a basement?" He asked with a smirk as Jazz replied just the same.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Come on." She took his hand and they headed down, Danny lingering before he nodded to the duo as they divided. Jazz showcased the lab while opening the Ghost Portal to Johnny's muse.

"Cool."

"No, it's not." Jazz said dismissively as she continued on. "But at least, my brother can't bug us here." That was a word too late as Jack's voice bellowed from up top, to the panic of both of them.

"Jasmine Fenton! You know you're not allowed to bring unauthorized personnel down here!" Danny smirked from his lean against the wall as both parents rushed down with Talia and Cedric on the other side as Maddie exclaimed.

"You know better!"

"You were about to let some strange punk activate the Fenton Portal?" Both Jack and Danny exclaimed before glancing at each other in surprise as Johnny defended himself.

"Hey, lay off! We weren't doing nothing, pops!"

"His name isn't pops!" Maddie and Danny exclaimed before giving each other a glance in confusion before Johnny continued.

"Yeah, whatever!" Johnny headed off as he remarked. "This place was getting a little too cramp for my style anyway." He headed up the stairs as Jazz called out.

"I'll walk you out, Johnny." She paused to scold Danny. "...And could you be any more like them?" She rushed out before the trio shouted to the top of the stairs.

"I AM NOT LIKE HIM!"

"This is awkward." Danny spoke as Maddie rolled her eyes before the parents turned to Talia as both asked.

"And who are you?"

"Talia... Talia Rahmat, I am Cedric's girlfriend..."

"And I am authorized to involve her, I am not like Johnny, okay?" Both looked at each other before Maddie sighed and spoke as she headed upstairs.

"Just don't stay too long, Jazz should know better before inviting someone down here." She headed up as Jack turned to Danny as he asked.

"What is this about, Danny?"

"We are looking into something that Johnny is up to, and it has something to do with the Portal." The four turned to the swirling green before Jack headed over to the terminal and checked it with Cedric helping as Talia and Danny stared for any more ghosts to surge out.

"I am running the scans, but I am not seeing..." Jack paused before he looked at something out of place. "Hold the fudge, there is a faint trace of ectoplasmal energy emitting from the Portal, that shouldn't be possible."

"What does it mean, Sir?"

"It means that somehow, a ghost got trapped in the portal itself..."

"Trapped...?" Danny turned as he asked. "You mean like..."

"A sub-particle, dimensional portal reversal?" Both Fentons spoke in confusion before glancing at each other again before Jack remarked. "Okay... that is really spooky..."

"What does that entail, exactly, Mr. Fenton?" Talia asked as Jack went back and explained it.

"It means that, during one of the brief closing of one of the portals, either on our side or the Ghost Zone, a ghost got either reckless or cocky and ended up getting electrocuted as a result." Jack brought up a display and pointed it out as he looked to the trio with him. "Fragments of the ghost are scattered across the portal matrix and it will be impossible to pull the ghost out or force it back into the Zone without it shattering to pieces for a short time, the reason why it hasn't gone fully back into the Zone is because its energies seem to either be leaking or..."

"...Be objects to use in our world..." Danny growled as he realized the meaning. "That guy... I am going to..."

"Hold up, Danny." Cedric stopped Danny short with an Exorcist grab, Jack awed by the sight of an ecto-plasmal armor emerging from the bracer. "We can't be sure, we need to run a bit more of a search before we can call it." He glanced over to Jack as he spoke with Talia by his side. "Sir, could we isolate the reading enough to get a form out of the ghost briefly on our side?"

"It will take time..." The man rubbed his jaw before he smiled. "...But give me a ice cream tub of fudge and my tools and I can get that reading out." They nodded as they headed up to rest, Jack smiling as he had a new project than just the Fenton Scanner...

* * *

The next day during school lunch, Danny explained the issue with Johnny and what happened at his house. "The weirdest part was that me and my parents were actually on the same page. I'm not like them..." He paused before asking about it. "...Am I?" Sam had an answer to that as she started, not aware of what the trio were doing with Jack to find out more about Johnny's plan.

"Let's see... You're stubborn, overprotective, your last name's Fenton, AND you hunt ghosts." Tucker just had to add to it as he spoke.

"The only thing you're missing is the hazmat suit and the wonder get." They soon took a seat at one of the tables where two other students were sitting before they exclaimed in terror.

"It's Bad Luck Tuck! Yo, we out!" The pair headed off as Johnny's little partner phased out of the shadows and opened its mouth in glee, surging over to the geek as Tucker exclaimed with raised spoon.

"I am not bad luck!" Shadow struck the extended hand, launching the spoon into a beehive up above and Cedric sighed as the bees stirred to the attacking utensil.

"Oh no... bees." The armor covered him as Talia went intangible with Danny grabbing Sam and doing the same as the school yard went into panic at the swarm of bees that burst from the hive and attacked everyone there, including Tucker.

The whole thing, just as quickly, was settled as several teachers came out and started what they could to drive the bugs away and apply the needed treatment for everyone attacked, including Tucker who was given the stink eye big time as he mused. "Suddenly, Techno-geek sounds like a term of endearment." At the same time, Jazz found her 'boyfriend' waiting on her as she asked.

"Hey, Johnny. What are you doing here?"

"What can I say, doll?" He mused over the thought. "No matter how hard I try, I can't stay away." The five of them headed down the street after the break before both Talia and Danny's ghost senses went off as both watched as Johnny rode with Jazz on his bike before both exclaimed in disbelief.

"Darn it, Jazz!" Danny took off after Johnny as Talia just watched him go Phantom before she shrugged and just followed Cedric along the way.

Danny pursued the pair up the mountain trail, but his presence was not so concealed as Shadow took to the air and Danny yielded to keeping Amity safe by dealing with the ghost over protecting his sister as the pair made it to the top and Johnny spoke again to her. "Jazz, I've been thinking and I know this is kind of quick, but..." He reached into his pocket before continuing. "How'd you like to be my girl?" He showed the same ring he had to Jazz who was in awe of it while Danny was fighting Shadow, blasting a ray which did blast through, but the shadow ghost just reformed as Danny exclaimed.

"Suffering spooks!" He repeated in terror as he jumped the gun. "Suffering spooks? Oh man, I am becoming my dad!" He screeched in shock at that fact, dropping his guard and letting the shadow consume him, trapping him in its body as he suddenly found himself in a struggling battle for freedom as he exclaimed once more, focusing on the fight now.

"Gotta break away from this thing." He gathered his power into his hands, charging a pair of ectoblasts to the thing's surprise before blasting, scattering it apart before it reformed away from him, glancing at his hands before he wheeled about to the clear stun the thing just faced. "Okay... so bright lights weaken it... Need some bright light." His eyes fell on a cinema down below before he smiled. "Oh yeah, that'll do." Down in the MoviePlex, Sam and Tucker were getting popcorn before the employee exclaimed with the tub of popcorn.

"One super large popcorn... I know you, you're Bad Luck Tuck!"

"And you're Minimum Wage Stan! But you don't see me broadcasting it." Tucker retorted as he snatched the popcorn from the terrified employee as Sam joined in.

"Hey, this is your fault for ditching the techno-geek label, maybe you need a new-new thing."

"A new-new thing?" Tucker narrowed his brow to the suggestion as Sam continued.

"Yeah! You should go Goth." He was not convinced, but Sam just pitched the idea. "Look, it says 'I'm Tucker, but I'm also edgy and dangerous'."

"Why the heck would I want to go Goth? Isn't that your thing?" Anymore was lost when Danny and Shadow flew into the cinema, going through the popcorn machine and causing it to erupt with popcorn in a total flood before the two emerged and he grumbled.

"You win, Goth me up." Sam took off the red beret and replaced with the black beret that she had pulled out to convince him, she pleased and he dismayed while Danny 'peered' about for his chasing foe, back turned to the thing getting close to trap him again, but it was in the trap when the projector started a movie, blasting the ghost with a bright light as Danny commented with a smile.

"Smile for the camera!" Shadow fragmented completely as Danny took flight over to the resting pair on the motorcycle as Johnny gave Jazz some time to 'think it over' before Shadow returned, beaten and battered to Johnny's mild concern before glee to the ring that briefly reflected Kitty before he spoke.

"So, Jazz, what do you say?"

"A ring? You want to go steady? That is so old school..." Danny arrived with perching on the branch overhead as he mused for something to break it up.

"I gotta do something." Suddenly, he grinned as Jazz moved to take the ring, he leapt out of the tree, changing back and belly flopping on the ground, surprising them as they gave shocked looks at him as he remarked. "Hi ya! Not interrupting anything, am I?" Johnny was one of utter loss, he was so close, but Jazz was fury as she stomped over to Danny and plucked him up as she hissed.

"Are you spying on us...?"

* * *

"Were you spying on them?" Maddie's words came as Jack and her scolded Danny for 'butting in' on Jazz and Johnny as the two glared at him just the same, well, Jazz was, Johnny was just bitter about the interruption.

Danny confessed as he spoke in reply. "Alright! Alright! I was spying on Jazz!" He answered to the hardened look of his parents as he continued. "And I'm really..." The two leaned in as Jack spoke in please.

"Good job." The titan whispered as Maddie joined in.

"Yeah, way to go, Danny." She continued as she explained. "And if you see Jazz with that hooligan again, you let us know." Danny was confused before the pair smiled to him before looking up to Jazz and Johnny smiling to the other before glancing at them, he driving off and Jazz turned to them as both shouted for believable evidence.

"AND DON'T DO IT AGAIN!" Before Jack leaned in with a whisper.

"But seriously, feel free to do it again." Danny was still at a loss, making a bluff was not his forte as they headed in, Jack glancing behind before he whispered once more. "I got something, your two friends of Cedric and his girlfriend just got here after some bees and we think we got something from the Portal." Danny nodded as they headed down and stopped before the Portal, Cedric on the ready as he was typing away with Talia nodding and keeping the connection stable as Danny spoke.

"So what are we..."

"LET ME OUT!" Danny and Jack jumped back as a pair of feminine hands seemed to slam into the portal, like it was a window, red eyes glaring back with frizzled green hair and the look of a bad girl, Jack composing himself as he cleared his throat.

"No can do, Missy, we're lucky that we were even able to format the Portal's frequency enough to get you to even appear, a ghost fragmented by the Portal making an appearance is not an easy task to even accomplish."

"And lucky we are, Mr. Fenton." Cedric answered as he went over the data and continued. "The Portal Matrix is a fickle thing to manifest, any calculations done wrong and you can kiss a city-wide blackout hello, at best..." Cedric continued as he trifled through the data-stream with such skill to the ghost's continued attempt of escape. "...However, this could be a problem, due to the ghost being trapped in the portal, it seems to be cycling more and more protoplasm out, it could be drawing from the items or the ghost herself, this could feedback badly."

"A actual ectoplasmic portal conversation?" Both hands on the data paused as they gazed over to the pair of male Fentons that had SAID the same thing at the same time, glancing at the two before Talia spoke.

"Okay, I can actually see the spook factor, that was scary, both of you." They turned back as both just shrugged and the ghost face-palmed in her glitching form. "Both of us will be TRYING to pull Kitty from the portal as best as we can, but that will involve an all-nighter, you do mind if we stay a bit, Mr. Fenton?"

"But of course, anything you need, I will be right there." Cedric nodded as Danny sighed, heading upstairs for the next day of school...

* * *

Danny grumbled a bit as he explained it to Sam, Tucker nowhere in sight for the longest time as they left the school. "This stinks! My sister is dating a ghost, I'm turning into my parents, and I have no clue what Cedric and his girlfriend are going to be doing, I couldn't even get down into the lab for their project." He huffed as he continued. "Could this get any crazier?"

"Hey guys." Danny paused as Sam just smiled at the spiky-haired, Gothic dressed Tucker, Danny finding his words again after a matter of confusion.

"What the heck are you turning into?" Sam answered as she walked over to the goth Tucker.

"We're changing his image."

"That's right, no more Bad Luck Tuck, I'm changing my image again." Tucker stated proudly as Danny pointed out the impossibility.

"Come on! You can't pull off Goth."

"Sure, he can." Sam stated as she continued. "Tucker, show him your disinfected scowl." Tucker pulled off a turn and frowned at Danny as Danny just returned the look with half-closed eyes before Sam huffed. "No, no, I can still see some hope." She took Tucker by the shoulders as she continued. "If you need us tonight, we'll be at Tucker's, darkening his outlook on the world." She turned back as she remarked. "Won't that be fun?"

"Yeah, we'll be at..." Tucker paused in fear as he seemingly whispered. "Wait, what are you going to be doing at Tucker's?" Danny rubbed his face as he turned and spoke to himself, certain that Tucker was going further into the dark at Sam's behest.

"It's just your friends, they'll be fine, Tucker will be back soon, but I need to check in on Cedric... I just hope that we can do something about Johnny." He headed out and got back to the house, pausing to make sure Johnny was nowhere in sight before going in and heading on down, pausing at the scene before him. The Portal was closed, but Cedric was sleeping at one of the tables, a PDA displaying 'COMPLETE' on it while Talia was resting in his lap, head on his shoulder with a hand to the chest. "O~k, not what I was really expecting from them."

He walked over and took the PDA in hand before looking it over. "What exactly did he do... with Talia's help?" He tried to get into the PDA, but it was encoded and Danny hummed before he turned to Cedric and shook him, stirring Talia as well as they groggily roused themselves and looked to Danny.

"Oh... Daniel... Is it already time...?" Talia yawned with a stretch as she walked around while Cedric hummed with the PDA in hand and looking it over before he nodded.

"We're good to go... we just need a Fenton to open the Portal..." Cedric yawned before he continued. "...And one of Kitty's items, that should be enough to pull her out of the Zone."

"Well, Jazz is protective of the scarf and jacket, she never lets them go, so the only piece that I could use would be..." Danny stopped and smiled as he looked to his friends. "...I got an idea, it's going to be a sleight of hand moment."

"Oh... this we need to hear..."

"What are you thinking, Danny?" Danny then whispered the idea and the duo accepted it as they watched him go back up and looked to each other before settling in a better place and snuggling on a beanbag there...

* * *

Jazz was furious at how her parents just forbid Johnny from coming and how Danny was just being nosy, but a piece of her mind seemed to be in riot, why...? Her anger left as she beamed to Johnny standing down below with a smile as she spoke. "Johnny, hi."

"Hey, Kitten. This a good time?" He asked as Jazz confirmed it.

"Yep, my parents are asleep, wanna come up and listen to some CD's or something?"

"Yeah... CD's." The pair snuck past the sleeping parents with Johnny's hidden smile as they entered the lab and stood next to the Portal as Johnny tried once more to pull Jazz in. "So, what do you say, kiddo? Wanna be my girl?" Jazz looked ready to accept as the ring was nearly on before a voice spoke.

"She's not anybody's girl!" Danny stepped out of the shadows of the stairway to the pair's surprise before both yelled at him.

"STOP SPYING ON US!"

"No, I won't, anymore you would if it were me!" He closed the gap, thankful to slightly hear the shift in the back, as he gripped Jazz's arms. "Come on, Jazz!" The jacket and scarf slightly slipped off and Jazz started to look dazed as Danny pushed it. "Think like the brain surgeon you keep telling us you're gonna be!" He gestured to Johnny as he continued. "...Does this seem right?"

Johnny glanced to the ring as its counterpart spoke up. "What's taking so long? Johnny, get me out of here!" Johnny scowled as he tossed the ring up and pocketed it as he stomped over to snatch Danny as the younger brother spoke.

"Don't you think I'm doing this because I have a reason?" Anymore was lost as Johnny grabbed Danny and pulled him close, releasing Jazz who was feeling dazed as the two scowled at the other as Johnny huffed.

"You know what, punk?" The scarf and jacket fell and Jazz came out of it with a muttered 'Danny?' as Johnny continued. "We've had just about enough of you!" He raised his fist just as Jazz realized what was happening now.

"Hey! Hands off the little brother!" Johnny frowned as he huffed.

"Ah, whatever!" Johnny tossed Danny toward a cabinet as he rolled in the air, slamming into the metal container with both feet as he spoke. "Then we do this the hard way..." He glanced down with a command, his ghost aura apparent now. "Shadow, shelf!" The ghost grinned in emerging as it lunged for the container, toppling it over Danny as Jazz called out.

"Danny!" Johnny saw his moment to get Kitty out, but paused in surprise, his pocket coming out empty.

"Where did...?"

"Hey, Thirteen and Shadow." Danny answered as he had rolled out of the shelf's path, in hand was the ring to which Johnny was surprised. "I am a punk, a punk invested in his family, and you may have crossed the line..." He smiled as he stood up, the ghost between him and Jazz. "...But, we were willing to help above all..." He glanced to the side as he shouted. "Cedric, CATCH!" He tossed the ring as Johnny shouted.

"Shadow, Fetch!" The ghost whizzed for it as Cedric called out.

"Talia, turn up the lights!" Both jumped out, the ring flying into Cedric's hand as Talia's hands glowed before she swept out, the floor flashing alive in light as Shadow howled to Johnny's panic.

"What!? NO! My powers!" He was tackled to the ground by Danny who had turned into Phantom with ectoblast in hand, Jazz ready to attack as well, but Talia shook her head as she slid over between them as the punk huffed in anger. "You were playing me...!"

"No, I would have been too late to even stop you, Johnny, but Cedric is a mind in of himself." Cedric brought up the PDA and contained the ring inside a blue orb before he shouted.

"Jazz, the Portal!" The older sibling was confused, but did so anyway, the green flaring back, both ghosts surprised as Cedric worked it, the device going into the DNA scanner as he typed away. "We only have one shot at pulling her fully out, keep them on lock-down!"

"Will do!" Johnny tried his best to escape, but the vice-grip kept him down while the light tiles kept Shadow away, but both were tiring out before Johnny gave Danny the boot, launching him into Talia as he commanded, both freed from the movement.

"Shadow, Ring!" The spirit shook its head and charged, Cedric glancing for a second before rolling out of the way, the spirit ripping through the console and snatching the ring as he exclaimed. "Got it!"

"You idiot!" Cedric shouted as the armor formed around him. "Don't you realize what you have just done!?"

"Getting my girl's ring back and gonna teach you punks a lesson." He was not expecting the metal fist to impact and knock him back as Cedric continued.

"Moron! Without the console and the program to boot, you just cut the link permanently, you just forcibly shoved Kitty back into the Ghost Zone with only twenty-five percent of her power!"

"What!?"

"Johnny...?" Kitty reached out beyond the veil before the doors slammed shut, Shadow screeching as Johnny punched the door in failure, he crumpling to the ground as Cedric stood there, Talia and Danny joining him as she spoke.

"...We can't let her suffer for this..."

"I'm suppose to be a hero, and, though I dislike him, I have no reason to leave his girlfriend in pain." Cedric gripped his fist before he spoke.

"Danny, lock your parents in their room, we are taking the Specter Speeder into the Zone, we are getting Kitty back." He nodded and flew off, explaining the situation to Jack who quickly woke up, Maddie still out somehow, as Cedric pulled up Tucker and Sam as he spoke. "I need... yikes, never mind, you look terrible as a Goth, Tucker, but this is fine." He walked over to the Specter Speeder as Jazz was just lost, Johnny looked just as confused with regret in his soul. "I need you two to be prepared, we'll be having some ghostly company soon and the more people the better, in case something goes wrong."

"Where do you want us?"

"The baseball field, just in case." The call cut and Cedric stomped over to Johnny before plucking him up from the ground. "I don't need to make it worse, but if we don't get her back with stuff on her, she will fragment and it will take a month for her to come back, now you will rein in your shadow, you will take the stuff back, and you will heed my words."

"Yeah... what are you going to do if I don't, punk!?"

"Do you want Kitty back or not!?" That snapped him out of it as Danny returned.

"We got clearance!"

"Good, now we go hunting. We have a limited window, so we need to make it count."

"Alright, alright... I care more for Kitty than this scheme..." Johnny looked up to the confused Shadow. "Shadow, return!" The ghost did so, entering Johnny's body, and Johnny flew out of Cedric's grip, only to return with his bike. "So, how are we going to get the portal open now?"

"The Speeder will do that for us." The trio jumped in and powered the Speeder up as Jazz, after a moment, climbed abroad as well and the ship rocketed into the Zone, Johnny close behind as Cedric brought up a display. "Her energy is weak, but we can get to her in time... and fast!"

"What's wrong, Exorcist!?"

"I got readings of several recognized goons, Walker's men are closing in on Kitty."

"Walker!? They're closing on my girl!? I don't think so!" Johnny revved away as the four looked to the trail with the Speeder following.

"Bad boyfriend material for you, Jazz, but he clearly got his motives straight."

"He saved me... though I should have questioned the whole thing, but it's just a blur after the jacket came on."

"Let's just save Kitty from Walker before that bitter ghost hauls her to prison."

"That we can do..." They flew on and Jazz took the helm, having gotten a crash course in driving the machine while Talia, Danny, and Cedric leapt out of the ship and charged, the goons quickly overpowered as they plowed through them and quickly rescued Kitty who was looking worse for wear as she was brought abroad the Speeder and stabilized partially before the mess was cleaned up and they headed back in as Johnny exclaimed.

"What are we going to do, I messed up and now she's..."

"Her core is... drawing on something else..." Cedric hummed before he went through it and stabilized her further to everyone's surprise as he nodded, the glitching form fading to a slow breathing. "She's in the clear, but her ghost core has experienced a trans-core mutation, it has shifted elemental properties on us."

Johnny dropped backward with Shadow resting with a sadden look. "That was..." He groaned as he clapped his face. "This is my fault, if I hadn't be so eager to just ride around town with my girl, I won't have gotten her caught up in the Portal, she wouldn't have been trapped there in the first place, and I wouldn't have almost lost her to Walker in such a low."

"Yeah, you didn't think it through, but I almost never think things through, I would have been headstrong about this stuff if I never had Cedric with me, but we need a cover and you just going away won't do for my parents... so..."

"So Johnny..." Cedric huffed as Johnny looked and eyes widened to the fist forming in Danny's hand. "I wouldn't clench my teeth..." With one solid right, Johnny was decked in the face before Danny roared in relief. Later, they all took a trip around Amity Park, as promised to Kitty by Johnny and to make up for him messing up, neither admitted it, but they owned their skin to the four's help, but there was still the room for punishment as the siblings had a believable story...

* * *

"I can't believe that kid broke into the house just to see you..." Maddie answered to the story as Jazz looked down while Danny and Jack were seated at the table. "It's so romantic... But you still can't ever see him again."

"I told you that punk was no good!" Both males looked at each other before Jack smiled with a pat on the back for Danny as Jazz spoke, playing with the story.

"Yeah, yeah you did, you both did." Jazz spoke as she walked over to Danny with a rub of his head. "...But you told me first."

"Hey!"

"I love you too." Danny nodded as Jazz headed off before Jack spoke up.

"Which reminds me, Danny..." Danny jumped a bit before he turned to his dad as Jack went on. "You've been such a model son lately, I got you a little surprise, a little piece of me, you can always carry with you."

"...I don't really find that comforting for some reason..." It then came to going to school as Jack bid Danny farewell.

"Bye, Danny, have a great day!" The GAV drove off to reveal that Sam, Tucker who was back to being a techno-geek, and Danny who was in a jumpsuit four times his size and a frown on his face as Sam spoke.

"Somehow, that doesn't seem possible." Also sadly, that was the time that Dash and Kwan came over in mockery.

"Good news, Tucker, we're gonna stop making fun of you and go back to making fun of Fentonio." They did so, or Dash did so as he mocked Danny. "Whelp! Freak! Geek!"

"Hey!" Anymore was lost as Cedric called out.

"Head's up, blond star!" Dash turned, terror filling him as a football went straight into him, knocking him down and Kwan looked uneasy as Cedric and Talia approached. "Do you want a ball as well, Kwan?" The football player shook his head as Cedric spoke. "Then scram and pull Dash with you, I don't like it when the rules are cracked, clear?"

"Cry-Cry-Crystal!" Without a word, the two vanished as Danny sighed and looked to Tucker.

"I need a new image, can I borrow some of your tech?"

"Get your own thing, man!" Danny sighed for the time of his school life of mockery, but he didn't worry too much, Jack did want to give Danny a new jumpsuit in his size, but it was something set on fire, he had to wait weeks for a new human hazmat suit...


	14. S1 - Public Enemies

The chaos of the Ghost Zone was rampant, or rather calming down as Walker brought down his 'order' on those that have escaped his prison, but were finally getting rounded up as one inmate shouted to the trio of pursuing guards, one being Walker's second-hand of Bullet. "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"

"You're a ghost." Bullet answered in exhaust as the prisoner tried once more.

"Well, you'll still never take me!" That bluff was in vain as the criminal was captured in a net as Bullet made his report on a wrist comm, the pair of guards smirking with their catch.

"That's the last one, Walker. All the escaped prisoners have been rounded up."

Back at the prison, Walker replied into his radio. "All but one..." He turned around to an isolation cell, dour guards in front of it, as Walker spoke to its resident. "...Which brings us to you, Wulf." Walker answered with disdain as a reluctant guard opened the cell with a lever, what stood on the other side was a bipedal canine of black fur and green attire, leaping over the five before the claws extended out, it slashing the air to create something as one of the guards yelled.

"He's tearing a hole out of our dimension! He's gonna escape!"

"No, he's not. That would be against the rules." Walker pressed a button that was on his wrist and before Wulf could walk through, he was electrocuted and fling back as the portal that lead into Amity Park wavered before fading away to Walker's muse. "That's a nifty little power you have, Wulf. The ability to claw into the real world at will. It's one of the reasons I need you." The creature got back up as Walker continued his spiel. "You want that collar off, don't you?" The beast gripped at the silvery gadget around its neck as it glared at Walker as Walker pressed on. "I have one more perp to catch." He pulled out a mugshot of Danny Phantom in the prison attire. "Half kid, half ghost." Wulf sniffed it before inquiring, its language being Esperanto.

"Vi deziri detrui lin?"

"Destroy him? No." Walker answered as he stepped away to explain it to the confused wolf ghost. "I want revenge. And I need him alive for that. And since this 'Danny Phantom' set my prisoners free, I wanna turn his world into the prison he escaped. Take my crew. Cause as much havoc as you can and sniff this kid out for me." The guards beamed to the suggestion as Wulf was still puzzled on it as Walker turned back to Wulf with a frown that slipped to a smile. "And you'll be free of me forever. Do we have a deal?" Wulf, finally getting the chance, beamed back as the canine did exactly as Walker required and that was to get the crew into the Real World and terrorize the place as voices cried out.

"Ghost!" Hordes of ghosts tore through Amity Park, none knowing where they were coming from, the people ran for it in panic and terror, the team glancing at the whole mass and the mess being made.

"Oh man! I've never seen this many ghosts attacking at once!" Sam exclaimed as Cedric joined in with surprise himself.

"I have heard of incursions, but this is an exodus of spirits!"

"Where are they all coming from!?" Talia added as Danny lifted up the Fenton Thermos, upgraded, but may not be enough.

"I'm gonna need a bigger Thermos!" He was tackled by an attacking specter as Tucker gasped.

"And a paramedic!" The team could only partially jump into the fray as they were able to deal with individual ghosts, not a horde of ghosts on the rampage...

* * *

The following day was no better as the students watched the latest development on a TV screen as the new reporter made the report of the new program going on. "This was the scene at Amity Park last night as ghosts - that's right, ghosts - caused hundreds of thousands in damage. I'm Shelli Rakimata, and this is Ghost Watch. Day 2." The TV was shut off as the Mayor of Amity made a speech.

"Now, I know you kids are scared because ghosts are scary, scary things,..." The students really didn't seem terrified as the mayor continued. "...but I came to your school, not because this is a great photo opportunity,..." He paused with a turn and a smile for the cameras to flash on him. "...but because you children are our future... voters." He laughed as if it was funny in the first place with more photos, Tucker and Danny glancing to each other briefly as the Mayor continued. "And now, I'd like to turn this over to Principal Ishiyama, who's here to inform you of some exciting rules and restrictions."

"This is going to end badly." Danny grimaced as Talia joined in the chat.

"Daniel, it is just them trying to limit our interactions with those ghosts... they were familiar, though..." She shook her head as Ishiyama took to the stage. "Besides, we know that Ishiyama is Kwan's mother, so we need to give her a chance." That was a tidbit that not many people actually knew, that Kwan is Ishiyama's son and he is better than Dash because she seems to know when he is really causing mischief and confront him later about it, Valerie nodding as well with the trio as Cedric racked his mind for the similar appearance of the ghosts as the principal started.

"Due to the continuing and escalating ghost threat, here's the way we're going to limit your freedom: One, students are to have no contact with these spirits." Lancer joined her on stage for the rules as the first rule was apparent for MOST people, no one wanted to be dealing with ghosts right now. "Two, all students will be escorted directly to their homes after school." An escort was kind of a fool idea, they wouldn't even have anything to keep the students safe from the ghost as Ishiyama took on a serious face. "And three, by order of the Mayor's new security advisor, a nine o'clock curfew."

Sam exclaimed in hushed disbelief. "A curfew!?"

"An escort!?" Tucker pondered the same before Danny asked the big question of who could be behind that.

"OK, who's the idiot security advisor that came up with those lame ideas?" His eyes glanced to the door as it slammed open with the appearance of two familiar people, his parents who were decked out in ghost weaponry as Cedric answered his question.

"Does that answer your question nicely?" Danny nodded as Jack shouted with a megaphone.

"Fear not, young ones. We're here to make sure this school is prepared for any ghost emergency." Maddie strode forward with a megaphone herself.

"You must be cautious. At any time one of these ectoplasmic malefactors-" She paused when she spotted Danny and greeted him while still on the megaphone. "Hi, sweetie!" She went back to warning as Danny just flushed red. "-could appear out of nowhere." Danny huffed as he asked.

"Time to sit in the back where nobody can notice us?"

"Time to sit in the back where nobody can notice us." Valerie, Cedric, and Talia glanced at each other as Jazz watched the trio do just that before the four spoke to each other.

"Wow, I get that the Fentons want to keep us safe, but there is a time and place to be greeting your kid."

"Danny is Mom's favorite, she has a soft spot for him ever since he was a kid." Jazz answered as it fell into a short discussion of equipment.

"Okay, pushing the notion of overeager and common-sense lacking parents here, we need to figure out what is going on and what those ghosts want."

"Indeed, I know them from somewhere, but I can't quite recall, and how did they get into Amity Park, the Portal should have been closed in the first place." Heedless to them, a tear was made backstage before a wolf head emerged and sniffed the air before pulling back to Walker, Wulf pointing into the tear it had made as Walker confirmed.

"Alright, Wulf. You know what to do. Sniff out the people he's been in contact with." Wulf jumped through as Bullet came up and continued the thought that Walker left out.

"While we take over everybody Wulf sniffs out." Walker smiled at the plan, but took on a serious look to mean business about the overshadowing.

"I don't care if he knows Wulf is there, but the rest of you, I want hidden." They quickly passed through the portal before it closed while, Danny and his friends sat in the back before his ghost sense went off, Talia's as well as he grimaced once more.

"Oh no. You have got to be kidding me. Here? Now?" Without warning, a large canine ghost landed on the stage and sent everyone into a panic as he howled and jumped away in search for Danny, the confusion giving Walker and his goons a chance to overshadow Ishiyama, first to be sniffed out, and the trio of popular kids of Kwan, Paulina, and Dash as the crowd hurried outside, Sam and Tucker pausing as Sam inquired.

"Where's Danny?"

"I think he's trying to go ghost, but there are too many people around." Tucker explained as Danny was hiding out, Valerie had given him a brief salute as she joined the crowd, nothing she could do as the Huntress without causing more problems, and Cedric and Talia were not so able to either as the number of people just could break the moment and give them away as Danny's sense went into overdrive.

"There's so many ghosts in here, my ghost sense is going crazy." Before he could figure it out, he was grabbed by the face and slammed into the floor, the canine ghost looming over him with a single word.

"Servia!" Danny KNEW that was not English whatsoever just as someone 'saved' him.

"Get away from him!" The ghost was knocked into the wall with a minor wound as Jack remarked with a bit of dismay at the marksmanship that Maddie displayed.

"Hey, I wanted to do that! When did you learn to shoot that good?"

"What, you think I sit home and invent new cookies all day?" Danny sweat-dropped on the notion of 'inventing' cookies as Jack pleaded.

"Speaking of which, can I have another one of those butterscotch caramel hipple doodles?" She did so, while the ghost glanced behind the crowd to the mono-eyed, devil-tailed enforcer and two of the swats hovering behind the crowd, the panic still apparent for no one to notice them, so the wolf turned intangible and leapt through the wall as the enforcer called out.

"He's making a break for it!" The ghosts took flight after the escaping spirit while Walker, in Dash's body, mused on the possibility of the two hunters in front of him.

"I wanna keep an eye on these two. They may be of use to us." Jack made a break to chase, but he slammed into the door as Maddie opened it with a pull. "Well, SHE might." Danny made a glance outside the auditorium to catch a glimpse of the ghost that pinned him, looking scared as it ran for it again, he going to go after it, but slammed into Lancer who exclaimed in terror, having only gotten out to evade the initial attack.

"Bridget Jones' diary, Fenton! Stop your screaming, and get over there into the safe area!" He was pushed back into the auditorium and the teacher closed the door, only to get overshadowed by another one of the guards as arrangements were made and the pair of Fentons walked home as Jazz spoke to Danny about it, while ghosts flew high above Amity, the ghost sense going off often.

"All I'm saying is mom and dad are gonna be very busy, and I have a lot of homework to do, so I'm not gonna be able to keep an eye on you all night. I'm going to have to trust you to stay in your room and be so quiet, it's like you're not even there." Danny breathed as he pointed out.

"I know, you know, so what are you getting at really, Jazz?"

"I'm just saying that... if you were to go after these ghosts, you know to make sure that Mom and Dad don't catch on for now."

"I have to tell them sometime, but I first need to figure out what is even going on." They walked into the house to be shocked as Jack announced the 'first ghost group' in Amity Park.

"The first official after school meeting of the Amity Park Ghostkateers is now in session." It was never good that the members were Jack Fenton, Maddie Fenton, Dash Baxter, Paulina Sanchez, and Kwan Ishiyama. Danny's sense kicking in again as a ghost flew past, but Jack was more focused on 'dubbing' the members. "I dub thee Ghostkateer number one." The look that Dash gave was... unsettling, like he was peering into his soul, Dash normally doesn't have that type of glance to him or that evil smile as Danny made to dismiss himself away.

"Um if you need me, I'll be in my room being so quiet, it's like I'm not even there."

"Come on, Danny. Join us in singing our Ghost-kateer battle song." And then, the two broke into song which was even more unsettling as Danny KNEW that it was never made beforehand as Danny and Jazz quickly got to their rooms and pondered what else could be done right now, but one thing was sure, they were not planning anything in the Fenton household as of right now. The following day still had the pair on protection duty as Maddie called out to the students, unaware of the ghostly watch being given. "Alright, kids. Hurry up and eat your nutritious meals." She paused as Danny and his friends arrived. "Hi sweetie! Here's a nutritious bagged lunch." The bag on hand was handed to Danny as Maddie called out once more. "Jack, hit it!"

The GAV arrived and activated a shield surrounding the lunch area as Jack jumped out as he exclaimed. "This portable ghost shield only has enough power for fifteen minutes, so chew! Chew like the wind!" The six friends bantered as it was clear that Danny was in panic mode to which Sam asked to the dwindling sandwich.

"Danny, you okay?"

"Why would I not be?" He answered with sarcasm as he put the sandwich down and dove into the yogurt. "Just because the town's on high alert and my parents are at my school?" He ate so fast that he suddenly gripped his throat with a moan. "And I'm chewing so fast, I think I just swallowed my spork." The five watched as Danny phased his hand through his stomach and pulled out the spork. "There we go. All I know is as soon as I get five free minutes, I'm gonna toss that blabbering hairball that started this back into the ghost zone!"

"I SAID KEEP CHEWING!" They did so to Jack's shout before Tucker cut in with his own input.

"I don't think it was blabbering. I think it was Esperanto." Both Sam and Valerie spoke at the same time in confusion as to what was just said.

"Esper-wha-wha?"

"Esperanto. An artificial language from the eighteen hundreds. Now its only purpose is to give geeks a secret language to talk to other geeks." This was displayed with another geek coming over in greeting before speaking in the language that Danny heard.

"Hey Tuck. Kiel estas ĝi iri?"

"Vi scias, same kiel ĉiam!" The geek squealed in glee as the five friends looked at Tucker as he continued. "I couldn't tell what that ghost was screaming, but he looked scared. Like he wanted help."

"But do you actually understand Esper-anto?" Valerie pointed out before Tucker thought about it before shrugging, her head hitting the table. "Just our luck, he knows how to speak it, but doesn't understand it."

"I think we can actually understand that ghost just fine, but we need the Fenton Ghost Gabber." Cedric pointed out to Danny near-exclaiming.

"O~h no, that thing will just say what I say and..." He stopped as he realized it himself. "...translate anything said by a ghost, it never clues in on humans, just ghosts and hybrids."

"So I should watch what I say around such a device?" Talia raised her brow with a smirk as the friends chuckled a bit, their ghostly watcher leaping into the closest tree to the GAV before jumping, claws extending out and performing a drill-attack, dicing through the shield that reformed before phasing into the vehicle before both ghost senses went off and Danny grimaced once more.

"Oh no. Here? Again?"

"But we're chewing like the wind inside an anti ghost zone. Where could the ghost be?" To that, the RV exploded and the party turned in surprise, the shield dropping to the destruction and blast.

"Survey says, behind us." Sam answered as the wreck fell in front of Jack and he weeped before the canine dog emerged and hovered in the air in front of everyone, all also witnessing as a electric field electrocuted the creature and it glanced back to the enforcer and two of what Danny recognized as Walker's goons as one questioned the use of a device on the enforcer's wrist.

"You're using the collar? Walker said-"

"Walker isn't here!" The ghost countered as the escapee made a break for it as the ghost shouted. "Get him!" The chase began as Danny glanced to his friends.

"If anybody asks where I am, lie." He ran for one of the trees, far from sight.

"Sure, no problem." Cedric answered as he armored up with Valerie. "Sam, Tucker, and Talia, keep a low profile, we are going to keep the bonehead out of trouble."

"You got it." The three said with thumbs up as Danny went into his catchphrase with nearing the tree.

"I'm going gho-" He stopped to find Jazz hiding as well as she exclaimed.

"Danny. Hi. Are you hiding here?" Danny gave a shocked look before he spoke.

"Actually, no. Can I change here?"

"Sure, I'll just go hide over there." She hurried off to another tree as Danny breathed and started once more.

"Okay. Now I'm going ghost." He transformed into Phantom and took flight, flying after the chasing prison gang as Jack primed something special, scoping on Danny on accident as he mused.

"One blast and you'll find yourself teleported back to that empty, little dimension you call home."

"Danny..." Jazz said to herself and, like any protective sibling, 'accidentally' knocked Jack's aim off with a apology. "Uh, oops." The shot went wide and Danny dodged it, but the two guards were not so lucky as they were hit and were tossed right back into the Zone through a vortex to Danny's exclaim.

"Whoa! Portable ghost portal? Oh great." Future thoughts tossed to the side, Danny picked up the pace as the enforcer ghost pulled out a laser gun and caught the wolf ghost by the tail, pressing the button on his wrist as Danny mused to himself. "You're big, you're hairy, and you're a ghost. But if Walker's goons are after you, you can't be all bad." He zipped past the ghost, wrapping him up with the plasmal cord that still held the wolf's tail before severing it with a ectoblast, snatching the lingering pieces with little harm to himself as he shouted. "Go, ghost stinger!" He thrusted the green energy through the violet color, electrocuting the enforcer as he faded away, Valerie snatching the gun as the two human ghost hunters landed, in case of the hound's nature as it glared at the hero as Danny spoke to get on the ghost's good side. "Friend. Uh..." He held out a hand to the creature. "Friend?" Both tensed as the thing sniffed Danny before... giving him a lick, both facepalming as Valerie spoke.

"Man's best friend once again, what is it with you and becoming friends so easily with canine ghosts?"

"If I knew that, I would be able to tell you, but my parents wouldn't even let me have a pet, let alone a hamster." The moment was ruined when Jack emerged from the bushes with a shout.

"Alright, nobody move!" The Fenton Ghost Fisher he pulled out was all tangled up as he exclaimed with a glance to them. "As soon as I get this thing untangled, you two..." He paused in confusion as he spoke again. "...four beasties are going down?" He worked to untangle it still as Danny assured the canine wolf ghost.

"Don't worry. He's not much of a threat. Now if my mom were here, then we'd be in trouble." Both armored humans paused as a targeting laser lined up on the ghost's forehead with a few more words.

"Cu vere." Danny peered to the tree where the laser was coming from before Maddie fired, the four scattering as Danny called out, Valerie and Cedric following suit in flight.

"Oh. Man. You are SO not getting anything for Mother's Day. Come on." They made their get-away as Valerie mused in surprise at the size of the crater just made.

"That... is a lot more destructive than what my weapons can do, don't they know that Danny is Phantom?"

"Honestly, Jack has an inkling from the sound of it, but never actually saw Phantom in action before and Mrs. Fenton is a different story altogether here."

"Yeah, I want to tell them fully, but I just have a pit in my stomach about it all the time... I'm afraid to tell them fully right now."

"But if Walker is making a move on Amity, then we need to be honest with our tales, it would do us little good if we don't explain things out." Cedric pointed out as they headed to Tucker's place, the meeting point for all of them. Tucker voiced his complaint about it just fine.

"I think this is a really bad idea."

"Well he can't stay at Danny's. Not with it being Ghostkateer central." Sam pointed out as the six surrounded the ghost as Danny continued, Cedric having grabbed the Ghost Gabber before anyone noticed.

"Besides, you're the only one of us who sort of understands him, and we need to get that collar off."

"Besides, you're the only one of us who sort of understands him, and we need to get that collar off. Fear me." The Gabber repeated to Danny's glare as the members seemed to be holding in chuckles, but not for long as Sam reached for the collar, only for the wolf ghost to snap at her, she getting flung back into her chair as Tucker pointed out.

"He said not to touch that."

"Really? I must have missed the subtext." Sarcasm at it's finest as Talia added to it.

"So, what are you doing to do, Daniel?"

"So, what are you doing to do, Daniel? Fear me." The Gabber spoke and Talia raised a brow before chuckling to Cedric's beaming smile as Danny huffed with an answer.

"I gotta get my Fenton Thermos out of my locker." He headed up to go through the roof and to the school. "In the meantime, see if you can find out what Walker's up to." He disappeared as the Gabber spoke.

"In the meantime, see if you can find out what Walker's up to. Fear me." Still, it was funny as Tucker turned to focus on the giant wolf creature.

"So, What's Walker up to?" Tucker tried with Esperanto. "Kio estas Walker?" To this, the wolf answered.

"Li provas meti vian amikon en malliberejo!" To this, Tucker would have laughed, not understanding a single word of what the creature said, but the Gabber saved the day.

"He is trying to put your friend in prison! Fear me." The tension built as Valerie spoke.

"Oh, that is not good at all."

"Prison, but why is Walker attacking here, he has his prison in the Zone unless..." Sam gasped as she realized the meaning. "He's trying to turn Amity Park against Danny, he's making Amity a prison for Danny!"

"That will limit Danny's actions greatly, he will be viewed in a negative filter." Cedric continued the thought before he inquired. "But where is he starting, if he was being subtle, then we need to find out where he is before he has the chance to fully see the plan through." He turned to Tucker and asked. "See if you can get a name out of our friend here and the collar itself."

"Uh, o-okay." Tucker cleared his throat and spoke. "Kio estas via nomo kaj kiu estas la celo de la kolumo?" The ghost replied just as easily, flexing its claws and gripping the collar for a moment.

"Mia nomo estas Wulf, altvalora kaptito de la prizono de Walker, kaj ĉi tiu infera kolumo certigas mian tutan obeon!" Once more, the Gabber plays its part.

"My name is Wulf, a high-valued prisoner of Walker's prison, and this infernal collar is to ensure my total obedience! Fear me."

"Which means we need to get that collar off before Walker has the chance to use it for termination." The five nodded as they got to work, Wulf a bit skeptic about the help, but yielded to their aid as Tucker's tech skills helped greatly while Cedric and Talia kept Wulf calm, Sam and Valerie having pulled out a scrapbook and filled in the gaps of who's who there...

* * *

Danny flew on to Casper High and got to his locker to grab the Thermos to deal with the ghosts. "Here we go." His sense went off before he stopped to the sound of voices, Dash in charge of it as he zoomed of to the room where this discussion was happening.

"Okay, listen up!" Danny peered inside to find Dash at the front, Mr. Lancer, Principal Ishiyama, Paulina, and several other members of the school listening to him while the room was lit up with blue flames. "Is everybody clear with the plan?" Paulina answered, just as part of this weird 'cult' thing as anything else.

"Yes, yes, it should all go down tomorrow after the town meeting." Danny couldn't help himself, but asking in opening to himself before the crowd inside.

"Meeting?" He reverted back to human as he stepped over, pretending to be a passerby who overheard that statement. "What town meeting?" That caught the glares of those there, Danny surprised when Kwan closed the door and he glanced to find that everyone had red eyes all the sudden before he was grabbed and lifted by Dash, slammed into the black board, but it wasn't Dash for long as the jock toppled to the side and a grinning, white face with green eyes gleamed back as Danny exclaimed to the face in shock. "Walker!"

"Gotcha, punk." He laughed with evil intent as most lost their ghostly oppressors as Danny demanded to the sudden reveal.

"Lemme go!"

"How does it feel? No place to run. No place to hide. I'm gonna turn your whole world against you, and by the time I'm done, you're gonna BEG for the safety of my prison..." He leaned in close as the warden finished. "...In the Ghost Zone, where you belong."

"The only thing I'm begging for..." Danny exclaimed once more as he took to being Phantom once more and blasted Walker off. "...Is for you to try some mouthwash!" He took flight away as Walker exclaimed.

"Don't just stand there gawking at me! Get him!" Few stood ready as Dash was overshadowed once more, Danny getting out into the open for a full confrontation, his sense going off before he turned to the Walker-possessed Dash who growled at him before he slammed into the host, tackling him straight down into a car, totaling it before being knocked away by a possessed Lancer, recovering to blast him away and fly once more to a possessed Ishiyama firing a grappling gun at him and shocking him, but it was nothing as he gripped the cord and flung the possessed person into a water tower before he was grabbed by a possessed Paulina who screeched at him.

"You can't get away from me!" They flew a bit as Danny mused with neutral displeasure.

"Wow. I waited all puberty for a girl to say that to me and now it's a complete bummer, wrong girl and wrong time." He hauled her into a billboard before he landed on the side of a building where Kwan faced him with some fancy moves with a baton as Danny just answered it once more. "Come on, show some actual class, twirling the baton doesn't make you good at it..." He blasted the possessed Kwan off before smashing into him. "...It makes you rather predictable." He took flight once more as the five chased after him as he spoke to himself. "One on five, not good odds here, I need to get to someplace safe." He remembered a good one and adjusted for the larger-than-life housing with the dish before zooming down to the basement. "Ghost shield... Ghost shield..." He found it and activated the shield, trapping him in, but keeping them out as they slammed into the shield and he peered out to them, reverting back to Fenton as the small gang gazed at him, he closing the binders a bit as the possessed principal inquired, they heedless to the still watching eyes.

"Should we go after him?"

"No, no." Walker answered in Dash's body. "It's that anti-ghost dome. We can't get in, but he can't get out." He smiled to the finalized part of the plan. "And by tomorrow, this place will be under complete lock-down." He phased out of Dash as he finished up his speech. "I gotta put the final phase of my plan into action, and tie up some loose ends." He flew away while Dash was possessed by the second-hand while Ishiyama was possessed by one of the guards, Danny pulling out his phone as he called Valerie, Cedric may have something on his hands.

"Valerie, we got a problem, Walker is going to do something at town hall and is heading somewhere to tie up some 'loose ends', what's going on over there?"

"We're getting the collar off right now, Danny. Tucker and Cedric are doing what they can while that other guy's weapon is still in my hands." With a thud, Valerie turned to find that the collar was off as Wulf exclaimed with joy.

"Mi libera!"

"I'm free. Fear me."

"Of course your free. You-" Wulf clasped a claw over Tucker's mouth and point, the small band looking out to Walker's completely unaware attention as he spoke.

"You've outlived your usefulness, Wulf. Goodbye." He pressed a button and the device looked like it was going to discharge, Wulf glancing about before he pretended to be hurt by it, hiding to the side to make it believable. He screamed as the collar discharge for a small amount before Walker disappeared and Wulf leapt out the window, shattering it, as Valerie spoke.

"Danny, do you copy? Our canine friend just busted through a window, and..." Anymore was lost as Tucker's parents arrived to enforce the curfew.

"Nine o'clock. Curfew time. Lights out, phones off, technology down, computers off." Valerie agreed as Tucker's mom continued the thought.

"It's too dangerous to take you home, Sam. You'll have to stay here with Tucker's other friends."

"And so we know you kids are safe, your mom and I'll stay in the room with you." Tucker's mom pulled out two sleeping bags out from behind her as Sam mused.

"Alright, next time we take the extra-dimensional fugitive to my place." Cedric glanced to Valerie and wrote a question, she replying just the same as he nodded to the answer, Damian was informed prior to the meet up and couldn't drop by to pick her up for the time being, especially with all of these ghosts all over the place.

Outside, Wulf took a look at the picture of the four friends before he smiled and bolted down the walk with hood over his head to keep him undercover...

* * *

Danny, restless for an attack, dozed off and jumped up as he pondered. "I fell asleep?" He looked outside to find that the shield was still up with a breath. "At least the shield's still up." He glanced over to the clock and gasped to the time. "And it's ten eighteen!?" Sam greeted him just as well with Tucker, Valerie, Cedric, and Talia to the exclaim.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty."

"How'd you guys get in? The shield's still up." Danny inquired as Tucker pointed out the obvious.

"Hey, it's a ghost shield, not a human shield." Talia joined in as she explained it as well.

"And my human form passed right through it, it didn't stop me one bit for being a Demi." Danny nodded before he remembered what was happening and started to explain what was happening.

"Walker's overshadowing everybody around me. I think he's trying to turn everyone in town against me."

"Wulf confirmed as much when we helped him out."

"Wulf?"

"The ghost werewolf that spoke in Esperanto? Ring a bell?" Danny nodded as Tucker filled in the gap once more with something recent.

"Well, that would also explain this." He turned on the TV to show a town meeting as the Mayor started his speech.

"We only have one piece of business today: Defeating the ghosts that infest our town. And to do that, I'm calling for a vote to ceding all ghost policing and security decisions..." He held up a picture of Maddie as he continued. "...to Maddie Fenton..." For a split second, his eyes glowed red before he flinched and retracted his decision for another. "...I mean Jack." He held up a picture of Jack as he commented on him. "Jack Fenton. The completely competent Jack Fenton." Jack must have called out briefly before glancing to his wife as the Mayor continued his spiel. "And we've located the ghost responsible for all the terror inflicted on our town." He held out a terrified picture of Danny Phantom for the people to see. "This one." The people gasped on the other side while Danny shut off the set in terror as Tucker pointed out the obvious.

"You know, I have to say. As far as evil master plans go, this one's pretty thorough."

"It's not funny, Tuck. I'm getting my butt kicked all over the place." Danny listed off the places where he was getting kicked around. "At school, at home, and now this? I'll be public ghost enemy number one!" They didn't know how to help as Tucker walked over to Danny's pack before pulling out the Thermos and offering it to Danny who was at a loss.

"Here you go, buddy. You're gonna need this."

"Are you nuts? If I leave this house, I'm dead." Sam joined in as she explained.

"Danny, you've got to do something. If you don't, who will?" His eyes landed on Valerie and Cedric with Talia and they had answers.

"Danny, I know I could stand toe-to-toe with ghosts now, but I can't right now, my dad wants me back at home and if I'm not back, things will get more problematic for me."

"Not to mention, Walker is gunning for you, we don't even know who among the populace are being overshadowed without a sensor or something." Cedric pointed out with Talia nodding. "We can help, but we can only help with the ghosts, if people see us, there is going to be trouble." Danny nodded as he breathed.

"Then... I got one choice, confront Walker and his goons at City Hall..." He turned into Phantom and took flight. "I'll meet you guys there, let's hope that we can do something about this..."

* * *

Down at City Hall, the Mayor continued as he called for order. "Order! Order! All in favor of declaring martial law, and allowing the completely competent Jack Fenton to mobilize a massive ghost hunt, please say-" Danny intervened as he spoke with swagger.

"I... might be too young to vote, but I'm casting one anyway!" The people started to panic, thanks to the broadcast as Danny tried to get some order in the room. "You people have to listen to me. I'm on your side." The Mayor backed up to the support of policing force while Jack exclaimed to the floating being.

"You're not fooling anybody, ghost kid! You are going down!" He quickly pulling out the Fenton Fisher... that was still tangled up as he grumbled. "As soon as I untangle this thing!" Danny mused to himself about the state of things and suspected that if Walker was overshadowing anyone, his parents could be on the list.

"My parents might be overshadowed, but this should harmlessly push the ghosts out of them..." He fired a blast, knocking them back as he didn't have a clear idea of how to knock ghosts out of people in the first place as panic really set in. "...Or they could not be overshadowed, and I could have totally ticked them off." Maddie quickly attached a laser to her wrist and fired at Danny from the stage as the laser cut through parts of the ceiling as Danny took cover, only to be grabbed by Walker and pulled under, Wulf gasping when he arrived to witness it before unsheathing his claws for action as Jack made to go through the weapons.

"Ghost bazooka. Fenton fisher." He plucked up one of the device, confused to its nature. "Whatever the heck this thing does." Maddie grabbed it as she exclaimed.

"Jack, what are you doing?"

"Getting ready to hunt some ghosts. I'm gonna tear that ghost kid apart into a million different-" He paused before he asked Maddie what the problem was. "What?"

"Jack, I love you, but we don't have time for this. Who's a better shot?" Jack answered honestly.

"You are." He answered, looking down the sights.

"Who's better with the weaponry?"

"You are." He turned to look at her about it.

"Who's a ninth degree black-belt?"

"You are - You are?" He stopped assembling the weapons before he picked up the Bazooka and handed it to her. "Here. I'll get the Ghostkateers."

"And that's why we make a great team." She fished out a cookie and dropped it into Jack's hands. "Here's a cookie." She headed off with Jack stuffing his face while Danny was confronted by Walker and his crew, the warden now in the Mayor, with Kwan, Lancer, Paulina, Dash, and Ishiyama there as he exclaimed.

"Walker! I should've guessed you'd end up in the guy that makes the rules!"

"Shouldn't you be running?" Walker inquired with smile from the Mayor's body, but Danny smiled back as he held up the Fenton Thermos.

"Shouldn't you?" Panic set in for them as they scattered, Paulina attacking with a slide, but Danny countered with a blast, hitting Paulina directing and forcing the ghost guard out as the popular girl stammered in her senses returning.

"What? Huh?" She screamed to the guard that loomed over her and made a grab for her, if he hadn't been sucked up by the Thermos as Danny exclaimed in success.

"One down, four to go."

"You saved me. So, you're, like, a friendly ghost?"

"Yeah. With some friendly advice: RUN!" Kwan charged and slammed into Danny, knocking the Thermos out of his hand before Danny got up, pinned by Lancer and Kwan before forming blasts in his hands and evicting the ghosts in them. They regained their senses, but they were more terrified as they screamed at each other, then Danny before booking it out of there as Danny searched for the Thermos. "Where's the Thermos?" The guards made to attack him in their true forms, but a pair of portals opened on them, tossing them back into the Zone, Danny glad for the aid, only to realize that it was his own mother behind the captures as she marked the hits and reapplied her lipstick before firing at Danny, Ishiyama pulling Danny out of the way, only to pull out the Thermos from behind her.

"Looking for this?" She pointed the tool at Danny, only for Wulf to come in for the save as the second-hand shouted from Dash's body, his name Bullet from what the friends told Danny about from Wulf's own interview.

"What are you doing?"

"Amiki**,** friend." Danny smiled to the broken English as Wulf charged off and ripped both the guard and Bullet out of the two's bodies and tossing before Maddie rushed over to portal them too, Danny glad for the aid before the Mayor grabbed him and hauled out of there as Danny exclaimed.

"What are you doing?"

"There's all types of prisons, kid..." Reporters started the broadcast of the day, unaware of one techno-geek's work linking up with someone's own device as Walker had Danny in a vice-grip of 'holding the Mayor hostage' as he continued with a smirk, the doors flying open for the people to see the situation. "...I'm making sure your prison is the town you live." Then he used the Mayor's voice to make it the more convincing. "Help! Help me! Help!" He fell back into the building with the door slamming shut as he smirked in victory in Walker's voice. "Now they'll never trust you."

"They might not..." The Mayor turned in surprised as Talia, in her ghost form, spoke with a ectoblast in her hand and aimed at the possessed Mayor with both hands focused forward. "...But WE do." She fired and knocked the Mayor off Danny, into Wulf's claws that were going through him before Wulf then ripped the Mayor and Walker apart, Danny catching the official as Maddie, somehow making it back on stage, exclaimed.

"Get your hands off of our duly elected leader, you odd manifestation of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness!" She said quickly as she took aim and fired, but Wulf, who was holding Walker in hand, stepped in front of the blast and both were kept in the suction as Danny cried.

"Wulf! No!"

"Friend! We'll meet again!"

"So will we, punk!" Walker threatened, unaware of what was even being done. "Feared on Earth and wanted in the Ghost Zone? You've lost, ghost kid! LOST!" They were sucked in, but Talia and Danny glanced to the side to Maddie leveling the Bazooka at their faces from the side.

"By the authority invested in me by the city of Amity Park, I sentence you both back from once you came!"

"Oh man, I have got to start paying more attention in these fights."

"You don't say..." The Bazooka was knocked out of Maddie's hands by a blast as the Exorcist landed, having got in the same way as Talia, through the back door, and spoke.

"You don't get to judge them for what they had to do, but you can take a rain-check." He fired another blast and Maddie toppled over as he spoke. "Stasis blast, good for keeping restless spirits and humans under control and the Bazooka ran out of a charge, says so on the note." There was a note on the side as he smiled behind the guard as Danny bid his mother farewell.

"With that, I bid you a fair farewell." He took both of his friend's arms and flew out of there with them as Maddie shouted, unable to move for the moment.

"You haven't seen the last of me!"

"Duh, I'll see you at dinner." The pair chuckled as the front page was on the frenzy with news of Danny kidnapping the Mayor, but every station across Amity was given a front-row seat of Walker's exposure and his threat to Phantom, it was only a few seconds, but it was enough as suddenly, the 'ghost' responsible for the attack was called into question greatly, even the Fentons were thrown into a loop as to the meaning and were just as clueless as to its meaning...

* * *

The following day, Casper was abuzz with gossip as Dash complained with the shocked look on Paulina's face as well. "I can't believe I was controlled by a ghost! I can't remember anything for the last few days!"

"I told you to wear a helmet before practice." Kwan's reply was met with a tray of food to the head as Dash countered, more to be the last word in.

"I remembered how to do that!" He 'HA' heavily at Kwan before striding away with swagger as Tucker mused the same idea, Talia still finding the time to be by Cedric's side as Valerie breathed as well to the change.

"Man. You think that was hard to find a place to go ghost during school hours before!" Sam read the paper and exclaimed her own thoughts about it.

"So even with everybody thinking you're a bad ghost..." She turned with wide eyes as she asked Danny. "...you're still gonna try to be the hero?"

"Well, somebody's gotta. Hey, if not me, then who's gonna protect this town?" He picked up his milk carton as he continued to explain. "Besides, it's not like I can ignore a scream for help."

"HELP!" The party turned to Lancer being chased by Maddie and Jack as they shouted about ghosts as Lancer pleaded in running. "The Adventures of Huck Finn! How many times do I have to tell you people, I am not a ghost!"

"Except, that one." They laughed it up as they just watched the chaos happen, Danny found out that Cedric willing added a camera to the suit for a safety function and was glad for it as it proved his innocence off the bat, so he couldn't really blame anyone for trying something, he would still be the hero with his friends...


	15. S1 - Fright Night

The cool Autumn afternoon loomed over Amity Park as its ghostly hero-slash-public enemy smashed into a carved pumpkin, for the coming holiday of Halloween as described across Casper High, and stood back up to confront a ghostly eel giving him trouble. The ghost took off as Danny gave into pursuit, trying to catch the creature, but it was actually slippery before it smacked him and he frowned as the distance was made between them as Danny spoke. "You're one slippery ghost eel, but I bet you don't know _this_ trick!" He gathered energy into his palms before blasting it to the eel's glee, it absorbing the energy before the green eyes turned red and Danny commented in both frustration and determination. "Oookay. Maybe you do."

The eel wasted no time blasting Danny back as he was launched right at the school where prep work was being made for the upcoming holiday, the eel distracted suffered a Thermos capture by Talia in ghost form as she called out.

"Danny!" He flew through the school and slammed into a ladder, dumping paint on someone as he reverted back to being human, dazed from the blast before he was lifted up and found himself face to face with Dash as the letter-man jacket was painted with purple as he growled.

"Defacing my letter jacket? That's a violation punishable by wedgie!"

"Give me a break, Dash..." Danny blinked a few times as he commented. "I can't feel my head and the three of you is making it worse..." Before Dash could sock Danny, another person came into play.

"Grapes of Wrath, break it up!" Both of them glanced up to Lancer standing behind them as he looked not pleased to see their antics as he demanded. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't *suspend* you both for fighting on school property?" Dash stumbled with a simple excuse as Danny roused himself to full focus, rubbing his temples for the relief.

"Uh… I'm a football star?"

"True." Lancer answered as Danny rolled his eyes a bit at the favoritism as Lancer raised the clipboard on hand as he continued to explain. "Still, I must at least *pretend* to be fair, and you two need a more creative outlet for your aggressions." The two glanced at each other before back to Lancer as he spoke with a roguish smile as well, showing the plan on the clipboard for the two to take heed of. "As you know, every year one of the faculty puts together a haunted house party at the abandoned Townsend place." It even had a picture of the large structure and the face who would be behind its haunted house time. "This year, it's my turn." He continued to lecture as the two looked at him with some blank stares. "And I am bound and determined to decorate it better than Ms. Tetslaff did last year." The trio looked down the way to find Ms. Tetslaff, the gym teacher, who countered with a crack of the hand and raised brow.

"Fat chance." She held up a photo of what must have been her like a Frankenstein monster or something. "You'll never outdo my Franken-Gurkard-Stein monster." She walked off to Cedric, Sam, and Tucker behind her as Valerie was doing some late-shopping with her dad for the daily rite of 'Trick-or-Treating' as Lancer commented.

"Welcome aboard 'Team Lancer', gentlemen. Scariest room avoids detention." Dash leaned back as Lancer pointed a finger at him. "Football star or not." Danny spoke to his friends as he made a plan.

"Scary? Haunted house? This is great!" Danny beamed as he finished the statement. "I am going to totally kick his butt!" Dash cut in as he exclaimed.

"You think so, Fen-tons-o-fun? How about a little side-bet?" The smirk on Dash was something of concern as Cedric huffed to Danny's idiocy to agree.

"Sure. If I win..." He paused to think of a good idea to force on Dash. "...you have to run through the school parking lot in your underwear!" Cedric face-palmed as Dash accepted without pause and offered his punishment if Danny lost.

"Okay." He reached into his jacket for the prize. "And when you taste defeat, you have to eat _THESE_!" He pulled out a pair of unwashed, disgusting pair of boy briefs, clearly his underwear with his name on them as the trio screamed at the horror of it before Tucker remarked in terror.

"I don't know what's scarier. The underwear, or the fact he carries them around in his coat!" They turned to Cedric as he seemed to glare at the pair.

"The THREAT of detention should have been enough for you two, clearly making a bet is going to bite both of you in the rear." Both flinched as Cedric continued. "But as it stands, we are involved in this and I will be making my own horror room for the contest, I may not be gunning for punishment, but I know my bet in the end and this is the most terrifying one." He smiled and sent chills down their spines. "Should I win, you two WILL play nice, that means you help each other with homework, you practice sports together, and you DON'T cause too much trouble across the school for TWO WHOLE weeks." The held up fingers gripped into a fist as Cedric finished. "Got it?"

"Cr-Cr-Crystal, sir!" Both Dash and Danny stammered in salute as Cedric huffed and walked off, Dash and Danny watching him go before Dash spoke with underwear in hand. "...We are going to be in trouble..."

"You got that right..." Danny's choice to fight would also bring forth a spirit that embodies Halloween itself, the fear as well...

* * *

The trio headed to Fentonworks to discuss the plan in action, Jazz also learning about the bet and only had a few words to say. "You are in deep trouble now, you got Cedric involved." Tucker and Danny headed up to his room to talk tactics as Danny drew up skeletons and Dash getting choked by said skeletons.

"What if we did something with… skeletons?" He showed it to Tucker for his opinion. "See? H-How scary is that?"

"On a scale of not to 10? Not." Tucker gave a disappointed one to Danny who tore out the page and crumpled it up before tossing it, hitting the mountain of paper that had built up before Danny made for another plan.

"How 'bout this?" He thrusted his arms in the air and went Phantom before phasing through the bed, Tucker giving a skeptical look with left brow lowered before the bed sheet arose and started to make spooky sounds as Sam stepped into the room as Danny continued the sounds before Sam spoke unaffected.

"Lame." The bed sheet stopped as Danny phased back to reality as he moaned.

"Oh, man!" With the ring formed around him again, he reverted back to Fenton as he landed on the bed and groaned. "Halloween's a week away and I still don't have a clue what I'm gonna do for my haunted house room." He exclaimed with a pondering look before Sam joined the chat with pulling off her pack and going through it before she found what she was looking for.

"Which is why I picked this up at the old bookshop where I like to skulk and lurk." She handed over a tan and brown colored book as Danny read the title.

"'Chronicles of the Fright Knight'?" He cracked it open to a imposing figure in black-and-white, atop a nightmarish horse, blade raised high as body of both horse and man were engulfed in fire as Sam added more to it with glee.

"He's the age-old spirit of Halloween. Legend has it, that if his sword, 'The Soul Shredder', cuts through you, you get teleported to a dimension where you live out your worst fear." She smiled to the idea with the motions in tow as Danny flipped to the next page of what the lair looked like before Danny paused in recognizance.

"Wait a minute…" He glanced up from the book as he continued. "I've seen this before!" He quickly pulled open his nightstand to a series of papers and a folder that read 'Map of the Ghost Zone (in progress) - Trio's map' before he filed through it and pulled out a similar appearance of the book's design, the familiarity matching up as he spoke in glee. "Look familiar?" Tucker and Sam saw the same as the geek exclaimed in amaze.

"It matches the map we've been making of the Ghost Zone!" Danny turned with praise as the plan was made with the basis being the Fright Knight.

"This is great! He's a ghost and he's the spirit of Halloween?" He plucked the book up and took it all in for the mission in mind. "That means I can take the best ideas from this guy and fuse them into my haunted house room!" The set-up was fairly simple as they grouped up and delivered the goods to the manor, it was menacing from the distance and up close as Sam compared what Danny came up with for his room as she remarked.

"And by 'fuse'-" The room was a terrible compare altogether with hay-stuffed skeletons, a make-shift layout, and a poor attempt of the Fright Knight sitting a throne, basically it was scary for kids, but not for adults. "-You meant 'totally rip off'?" Tucker just stared blankly at the mess with the stuffed skeletons, Sam giving a face of neutral displeasure of the bouncing purple rubber spiders, and Danny just beamed with the staked heads of Jazz's stuffed animals, Jazz furious to find her toys beheaded in such a way as Danny remarked while going through the motions of disregard.

"Well, it's not about being original, it's about not eating Dash's underwear." He stepped over to the mockery before going Phantom and possessing it, making it move and he using a gruff voice to get the point across, despite it just being a cheap knock-off of the original fable. "_I AM THE FRIGHT KNIGHT! TREMBLE BEFORE THE SOUL SHREDDER!_" He pulled free the balloon sword and swung it about Tucker as he adapted a salesmen pitch into the motions. "It slices, it dices, it creates your worst fear! _Now_, how much would ya pay?" Tucker remarked as he squeezed the balloon toy with a lack of amaze.

"For this thing? About fifty-nine cents." He turned and left the fake scene as Danny dropped the model back into place. "Now if you'll excuse me…" Danny flew out and reverted back beside Sam as Tucker was pleased with an actual plan. "I'm a little late to start scamming some free candy." He turned with an empty pumpkin in hand before showing off his PDA that had a map routed out across Amity. "Got my route planned out for OCP. Optimum Chocolate Payload." He pointed out the red zone of Amity with some restraint. "You want to stay clear of the red zone. Nothing but fresh fruit and granola bars in the red zone." Sam then asked, based on the plan that Tucker had a costume to be scrounging for candy.

"So where's your costume?" He held the pumpkin bucket in hand before putting on a fake pair of glasses with a big nose and a mustache as he remarked, the pair exchanging looks of uncertainty.

"Gotta travel light if you wanna maximize your haul." He turned toward the door and pointed the way as he walked toward it and cheered. "C'mon, baby!" On que of reaching the door, he continued the cheer. "Hit me with something sweet!" He paused before he was knocked back with a stream of green foam as Jack and Maddie stomped in and Jack cheered at the success of his little device as his lens cleaned up to blue from green.

"Haha! Look at that, baby!" He turned to look at Maddie as he continued. "The Fenton Foamer works like a charm!" Maddie agreed as Jack grinned with the nozzle in hand while she held a sensor in hand as she glanced to Jack, the ceiling on the other side, and back to her device.

"I _know_! There was a ghost reading in this very room seconds ago, and now the room is clean!" Tucker grumbled back as he had gotten back up while covered in the foam before he spoke in resign.

"Speak for yourself." He glanced to his friends as he continued with walking past the parents of ghost hunting. "If anybody needs me, I'll be in a different doorway every thirty-eight seconds." Jack leaned over to Maddie as he gave a frowned look about Tucker with her sharing it as he pointed it out.

"Isn't he a little old to be walking around in public in a stupid costume?" Danny took the moment to inquire to the presence of his parents there.

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing?" Maddie had a simple answer as the two of them explained.

"Decontaminating the area, son!"

"You know how ecto-storms always flare up around Halloween, Danny." Danny started to speak as he explained the situation lightly.

"This is all very riveting..." He glanced down as he quickly said under his breath. "...and by riveting, I mean 'Dull' with a capital 'D'..." He glanced back up in the motion of leaving before someone comes back. "...but you guys need to leave before Lancer thinks you're helping me." That caught their attention as Jack questioned.

"Lancer?" He made to puzzle it out as to why Lancer would care before his mind hit the correct conclusion. "Hey, this isn't some sort of anti-detention project, is it?" Instead of accepting it and saying as much to explain it out, Danny moved on deflecting to a picked-up hobby.

"No! No, no, no!" Danny made to push his parents out as he used the excuse to get out of the trouble. "Um, I'm just starting to get interested in ghosts, like my old man!" Jack beamed in joy as he exclaimed.

"Finally! If I didn't consider it a sign of weakness..." His lip trembled and his eyes watered up as he glanced toward Maddie. "...I'd weep with joy!" He continued to cry as the goggles wiped them clean or something as the door closed shut and Danny breathed for he took to being Phantom once more, taking flight as he commented to Sam as his only witness.

"Decorated room, faked-out parents…" He beamed as he finished up the thought. "Only thing left to do is to check out what Dash's lame theme is, then spend the rest of the night gloating!" He said with crossed eyes and closed eyes before he swept over to the model Fright Knight and snatched the balloon sword to carry with, zooming through the manor until he arrived to Dash's room and peered his head in to a sight.

Dash's room was a lot more scary with dummies of individuals working out that have suffered punishment or death at the hands or weights of their equipment, a skeleton on an eternal run on a treadmill while being held up by strings while two boxed it out and one 'literally' knocked the skull off one before said skull was kicked out of the way by Dash in a green attire and hat as he matched a stitched-up figure as Lancer judged the place with a hum and wrote it down in his clipboard. "The Spa of Doom?" He took it all in with amaze. "Quite impressive, Mr. Baxter." It also had a robotic-motion structure of a jock whipping a nerdy kid on the back with a towel as Lancer took it all in, Danny knowing that Dash had help from the geeks in the first place. "And I must admit, your knowledge of audio-animatronic technology is _very_ impressive." He turned and asked for more. "What else do you have for me?" Dash had the thing as he explained with a walk over to a motorized track and a giant shoe.

"A twenty-minute presentation about the horrors of Athlete's Foot!" Danny followed the pair as they got into the shoe with Lancer remarking.

"Well, let's make it snappy. My guests arrive at midnight, you know." The shoe took off as Dash commented.

"You will love the Tunnel of Fungus!" Danny turned visible as the pair left and moaned in disbelief, compared to this, his room was a kid's dream.

"Man, that is cool!" He looked down to the inflated sword and it blew out just as well in loss as he grimaced. "And man, that's not!" He glanced to the side to see the terrifying underwear in a glass container. "I have to do something fast or it's Tighty-Whiteys for dessert." He glanced at the deflated sword and got an idea, if he wanted scary, he would get scary, the sword, just as easily, replaced with the real thing...

* * *

Having made his way into the Ghost Zone through his parent's portal, Danny flew through the Zone and checked his map of the dimension before spotting the lair where the Fright Knight lived, the surrounding rocks believed to be homes of the others ghosts, but now he couldn't be sure about it as he flew closer to the ominous castle as he mused to himself, thunder striking out over the castle. "Desperate times call for desperate measures." He slipped into the dark and landed at the bottom before heading up, gasping as traps were engaged and he yelped as one of the swinging axes cut him as he groaned in a repeated lesson. "Oh, right." He pulled the hand away to the cut and the green blood that pooled in his hand. "Rule number one: In the Ghost Zone, ghosts _can_ be hurt." He gripped the fist in determination as more traps came for him and he evaded to jump through another door, lucky as one of the axes pierced through it before the walls of the corridor that was filled with skeletons of pumpkin, blade, and bone suddenly erupted spikes and started to close in as Danny took flight to escape before he remembered another factor to the Zone.

"Wait a minute! That's right!" He adjusted as he spoke some more. "Ghosts can be hurt here…" The rings formed around him as the walls closed on him, but he stepped out as Fenton and a smile. "…but *humans* have it made!" He walked on through to another chamber, this one littered with skeletons, but more importantly, was the Soul Shredder implanted in a pumpkin as he closed the gap to the glowing green blade, scared that one of the undead may arise to stop him before he stood before it and, uneasily, reached out a hand and gripped the hilt. He paused with a glance about before he huffed and gripped it with both hands before pulling the blade free, the purple guts of the pumpkin dripping off to radiate in its full green glory with a smile. The skeletons stirred alive as Danny glanced about a bit as he remarked with the blade in hand. "This place gives *me* the creeps..." He beamed as he held the Soul Shredder upright. "...Which means it'll scare the pants off of Lancer!"

He turned to leave, but stopped as the skeletons towered over him in double the size, the sword rather light in his hand which was strange with how implanted in the pumpkin it was. He leapt back as the skeletons seemed to have tried to crush him before he stood right back up and spoke in counter of them. "You guys need to eat more red meat." The rings formed around him and Phantom showed off some makeshift stances in readiness to fight before the skeletons raised their arms and bowed to Danny's confusion before deciding to play along with it. "Uh..." He took on a bold and disciplinary face as he answered with nose held high. "That's right! You know badness when you see it." The room shook and Danny gasped with a turn from where the quaking was coming from. "What?"

The violet pumpkin erupted in a green vortex before a column of green erupted and the ground fragments before a figure formed from the green mist that bellowed, armor dark as night, gauntlets blazing just like fire in its gray-black color, with violet flames around the helm and as the cape while soulless green peered back at a shocked Danny as the Fright Knight bellowed, green smoke still fuming from the point of revival. "Fool!" He pointed a finger at Danny before lowering the outstretched arm. "You have released me." He extended out a hand as he inquired of the sword. "Return to me my sword so my reign of terror can begin anew!" Danny countered with uncertainty.

"I-I can bring the sword back by midnight-" He affirmed himself as he glanced back at the Fright Knight. "-But the 'reign of terror' is kind of a deal-breaker."

"It was not a request, whelp!" He crouched ready as he shouted. "It was a demand!" He jumped and Danny leapt away from the sheer impact of the Knight as he took flight, blasting out one of the windows and getting away, but the Knight was not without his steed of Nightmare as he grabbed one of the smaller pumpkins and hurled it, it erupting into the form of the monstrous creature as Knight mounted up and took flight with the beast as they gave pursuit.

* * *

The streets of Amity were flowing with kids and teens alike as Maddie and Jack were on the mission of safety about before Maddie exclaimed to her device suddenly flaring up. "Whoa!" The device displayed a growing funnel toward the sky as she continued. "Ecto-storm's flaring up." Jack hunched over before he remarked with a megaphone in hand.

"Better alert the local townsfolk!" He straightened up and called out for warning to everyone there. "Code five! Code five! Code five! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill!" Unfortunately, they were not so taken seriously as the kids just laughed at the 'plumbers', Jack clueless to the insults while Danny was in a flight of fear as the Fright Knight pursued with vigor as the knight fired with eye-blasts, Danny dodging and gasping in relief to the swirling green of the Portal.

"*Yes*! Home sweet home!" He turned for a brief moment to blast the Knight off the Nightmare, both pulling back to stabilize themselves as Danny passed through and closed the portal shut with a 'closed' button on the side of the way, the pair of ghosts closing the gap, but not enough to get through as Danny breathed and, with Soul Shredder in hand, took off to show Sam, heedless of the Knight's impossible feat of opening the portal as he glared out across the lab in anger.

Back at the Townsend Place, Sam paced as she questioned. "Where is he?" Danny surprised her from under the floor as Sam yelped in terror as Danny phased fully out in remark and hands behind his back.

"If you think that's scary-" He put out his hands with Soul Shredder laid out before Sam's eyes as he finished. "-get a load of this!" The sword gleamed as Sam exclaimed in disbelief.

"You went into the Ghost Zone and stole the Fright Knight's sword?" Danny answered with pride and confidence.

"Stole, borrowed. Semantics." He shrugged as he held the word point down over the floor as he mused. "You worry too much." He plunged the sword into the floorboards and it somehow activated, blasting a torrent of green into the sky and forming plumes of greens high above as Danny's hand left the sword as they watched it do just that, heedless of its effects as the clouds grew and surged, energy fluxing into the manor and bringing things to life as they caught a brief scream of Dash.

"Zombies!" Danny finally spoke as he realized that he may have bitten off more than he could chew.

"Maybe I should get this thing back." The moment was interrupted by Lancer as he entered the room.

"Mr. Fenton. It's time." Thankfully, Lancer walked in with eyes closed which allowed Sam to jump in front of Danny and hide his transformation back into Fenton as he exclaimed in joy.

"Right after Mr. Lancer judges my room! Besides, what's the worst that could happen?" Those are the same terrible words one should never say as a bolt struck the ground in the distance and the Fright Knight appeared in all his glory as he exclaimed into a monologue.

"Free! And once I regain possession of my sword-" The ghost's eyes narrowed as he spoke on. "-I will transform this world into my own pantheon of terror! And then, I will *rule*!" The horse took flight as the Fright started the search for his sword...

* * *

On the other side of town, from the Townsend Place, Sam stammered in fear as the zombies of Dash's room flood into Danny's room. "Uh, Mr. Lancer?" The zombies got closer as she found the words to continue. "I don't know if it's safe in here." The two exchanged looks as Danny made to play it off.

"That's right, Sam." Just as quickly, Danny pushed the zombies out and shut the door to keep the zombies out as he monologue for effect. "*Nothing* is safe inside…" He grabbed an object and made a spooky noise of the effect. "...Danny Fenton's…" It was a flashlight and he used it for the classic fear tactic as he finished. "...'Room of Doom'!" He tried in vain to make it very scary, but just was failing so bad as he finished. "Enter if you dare." Lancer made his minor boredom apparent as he remarked to the lack of fear in the room, kids could get scared, but not adults as he remarked.

"I'll have you know, I don't fall for cheap theatrics." Lightning struck the box of spiders in the back as Lancer continued. "And I don't scare easily." A giant leg begged to differ as Lancer glanced up to the monstrous behemoth of a spider that was more abomination than anything as Lancer quickly scribed in his clipboard. "But you're off to a promising start!" Danny thanked the statement nervously.

"All part of the show." Dash, on the other hand, was in a panic as he screamed in terror and booked it down the sidewalk.

"Zombies! Ghosts!" The Fright Knight, having been watching the escaping boy, exclaimed in recognizance.

"I know that terror. It carries the scent of my blade." Nightmare soared down and crashed in front of Dash, as the Fright Knight bellowed in demand. "You, tell me." He pointed a finger at the terrified jock. "Where are you running from?" Dash brokered no argument as he exclaimed while pointing down the way.

"Ninth Seventeenth Maple Street." Fright Knight glanced up and exclaimed the same to the growing ecto-storm and lightning strikes across.

"Yes. Upon yonder hill lies the instrument of my ultimate ascendancy! My Soul Shredder!" Dash quickly jumped the wall with the Fright Knight blocking the way as the storm struck out across the city and people screamed to the mere objects turning into monsters without delay as the Fright Knight took to the air once more and continued his spiel, interested in observing the terror going on. "This is only the beginning." Unfortunately, one was not so spooked as he greeted the Knight as a friend, much to the Knight's confusion.

"Hi, Danny." Tucker walked on over to the foreboding being as he continued. "Is that you?" The pair swooped down as the Knight made his spiel at the unafraid teen.

"Child, you may want to show a little more respect to your future ruler!" Tucker was unfazed whatsoever as he countered.

"Yeah, yeah, very scary." He focused on Nightmare as he inquired its appearance with head bent toward him with a menacing glare. "The fake horse is pretty neat, though. What's it made out of? Flaming bed sheets?" The horse's head raised as Fright Knight exclaimed.

"Flaming bed sheets of death!" Still, Tucker was not afraid or terrified as he checked his PDA and spoke to the beeping.

"Whoa! I'm running late." He smiled as he made to explain it out. "I gotta be at the Henderson's in five-" Anymore was lost when the Fright Knight grabbed him and lifted him high as he made his speech.

"I am the Fright Knight. The Spirit of Halloween!" He melted the candy in Tucker's bucket and scorched it as the geek moaned in disbelief.

"Aww, man! Why'd you do that?!" But the Knight was not stopped as he explained the storm's power.

"And once this ecto-storm touches every corner of this globe, all these transformations will be permanent! And THIS shall be my new domain!" His eyes narrowed as he demanded once more. "Now,-" He pulled Tucker close for this to stick. "Take me to my sword!"

"You're not Danny, are you?" Sadly, Danny was contending with something else as the whole place was enveloped in the storm as Lancer was still not cluing in on the danger to his life as he was webbed up with his remarks.

"This has potential. Sticky, gross. I like it!" The spider drew closer to the aged teacher as Sam MOTIONED on the side of 'GETTING THINGS UNDER CONTROL'.

"Danny? You might want to end this before things spin out of control!" Danny didn't acknowledge that as he pointed out.

"I will, as soon as Lancer declares me the winner!" That time was ticking away as the spider made to make Lancer a drained corpse or the like as the teacher spoke for the certainty of the contest going to Danny's favor.

"Okay, I'm mildly impressed. A few more surprises and you might have this thing wrapped up." Danny pumped his fist in victory.

"Yes! I'll take 'mildly impressed'. That's my cue to clean up!" He quickly grabbed a Fenton Foamer that Jack left behind and fired on the spider, covering it in the form and reverting it back to the rubber spider before he spotted Sam having trouble with some boneheads. "Sam! Catch!" He tossed the Foamer to her to which she caught it, just as the skeleton busted through, only to get doused in foam, reverting them back into the stuffed skeletons as Danny explained it out.

"*See*? I told ya I had everything under control." He reached off and took the Foamer off Sam's hands as he explained. "We've got enough Fenton Foamers to keep Lancer safe and as soon as he says the words, 'Danny wins'..." He fired, hitting the rat about to munch on Lancer and reverting it back into a chair. "I'll toss the sword back into the Ghost Zone." The moment was ruined when the ceiling rumbled to an impact and the two glanced up to find the Fright Knight had arrived with busting through the ceiling with Tucker on the saddle as well, Lancer amazed by the 'flaming robot' as Tucker exclaimed.

"Danny! Whatever you do, don't let him get the sword!"

"Silence, whelp!" Tucker was tossed with a bounce onto the webbing as he greeted Lancer as Danny exclaimed.

"*Tuck*!" He aimed the Foamer to get Tucker out of the web, only to have the Fright Knight knock it out of Danny's hands and glance upon the Soul Shredder as he exclaimed.

"My sword. At last!" The Knight soared for his blade as Danny made a break for it as well, both gripping the sword as Danny uttered a 'hah' before it was apparent that the Fright Knight was far stronger as he swung Danny around to fling him off as Lancer watched the exchange with ponder.

"That's certainly exciting, but is it scary?" The transaction continued before the Soul Shredder slashed through Lancer, going through him like a slash of air before he glowed green and disappeared altogether, into a dimension where all the equations on blackboards FORCED him to claw at the board, to make the horrible sound of nails on chalkboards as Danny shouted.

"Lancer! Where'd he go? He was tossed off and recovered from being thrown and demanded with the cocoon in hand. "Mr. Lancer? What'd you do to him?" The Spirit of Halloween answered that same question.

"I sent him to where all who feel the sting of my blade are sent. A dimension where his worst fears come to life!" That just fueled the fires of victory in Danny as he cheered for the part.

"*YES*! This contest is SO MINE!" On the other hand, Sam glared at him with an evil eye and Danny quickly took to be a protector again as he stammered before launching himself into battle. "Uh, I mean-" He took to the charge as he exclaimed in a heroic tone. "Bring him back, you fiend!" He transformed into Phantom and made to deliver a solid kick, but was backhanded into the wall as the Fright Knight called out in praise.

"Listen to the sound of your doom!" The storm raged on as the Knight lectured. "Soon, my storm shall consume this planet and the world will be forever transformed! And no one can stop me!" The Knight praised with sword high up as Danny pulled himself out of the wall in counter.

"Not if I can help it!" He took flight once more, but slammed into the chest plate that felt like five tons of bricks to him as he flopped on the floor and voiced his dismay. "Which, *apparently* I can't." The Fright Knight towered over the fallen Danny and made to sentence him to his worse nightmare before Tucker, having gotten free from the web, exclaimed in saving his friend.

"Danny! Look out!" He stood over his friend for the Fright Knight to slash him and sentence him to a deserted island with no tech or clothes, except boxers and the only way off was through pencil and paper as Danny cried out.

"Tucker! *No*!" Danny got his ground back as he fired to knock the Knight backward, but with the swing of the Soul Shredder, Danny was blasted into the wall again as he grumbled for an answer.

"Doesn't *anything* work on this guy?" Sam quickly cracked the book open as she sought for the answer to their problem.

"There must be something in this book that tells us how to beat him!" She stopped as the Fright Knight loomed over her as he answered with truth.

"Perhaps." He raised the sword in a overhead slash stance. "But you will never find it!" Danny quickly got to Sam's side as he shouted.

"Sam, look out!" He clasped his hands on her shoulders and used his intangibility to make the blow miss, but it was not quick enough as the book was slashed down in half and Danny pulled Sam out of the way in flight as she scowled, looking back as they returned to the visible spectrum.

"Darn it! That bookstore has a no-return policy!" They quickly hid behind the makeshift throne as Danny apologized for letting things escalate into the mess they were now.

"I'm so sorry. I wanted to win so bad!" He glanced back and down in regret as he finished. "But not *this* bad."

"Stop beating yourself up over it and start beating him!" They glanced from behind the throne in terror of the ghost. "It's the only way we'll be able to get Tucker and Lancer back safe and get everything back to normal!" Danny nodded as he took to the air once more in the fight, but the Fright Knight was impossible to even land a hit on in the first place while Sam was allowed to search for an answer, anything to even stop the terror as she spoke to herself in shifting through the pages. "Come on, show me a weakness, a vulnerability, *anything*!" She quickly found something that could help as she exclaimed with a 'ah-hah'. "'To cease the Storm, to end the Fear, the Sword must sheathe in Pumpkin near.'" She clued in to the meaning as she exclaimed with the page in hand. "'Pumpkin near'! Danny! You've got to put the sword back in a pumpkin!"

"A pumpkin?" Danny questioned with a grandfather clock in hand. "There are no pumpkins in the room." He hurled it at the Fright Knight before realized it himself with how stupid he just said it. "'No pumpkins in the room'?" He face-palmed to the notion that there would be no pumpkins on Halloween. "It's Halloween! What am I, an idiot?" Sam called out as she continued to gesture to the paper.

"You have to find another pumpkin fast! That's the only thing that can stop the sword's power!" Danny turned back to the room to find a pumpkin and... was that melted mass of candy and charred bucket Tucker's? He didn't think about it for long before the Fright Knight arose from the rubble and quickly snatched Danny to pull him to the sky, invested in sending Danny to his nightmare, but Danny's evasion was impressive as Danny channeled his power in a taunt.

"Strike Six! Way to whip, Mr. October!" He fired a condensed blast and blasted the Knight back down into the room as Sam called out to him.

"C'mon, Danny. You can do it!" The two exchanged blows with each other as Danny finally could stand up to the threat before he was hurled to the ground and the Soul Shredder was raised high, Danny quickly jumping for it and caught the blade between his hands to the Knight's surprise as he chanted the verse, his aura glowing thicker and more green.

"To cease the storm…" He pushed against the force with all his might. "To end the fear…" The Knight tried to push the blade down on Danny to no avail as he glanced to the melted mass. "The sword must sheathe…" The storm raged on as Danny shouted with his aura turning white. "In pumpkin near!" He shifted his grip to the gauntlet hand and tossed Fright Knight over his shoulder and into the ground, ripping the Soul Shredder out of his hands before making a leaping jump for the carbon-scored pumpkin, planting the sword into the pumpkin before getting flung back to the Knight's surprise as he gasped.

"What?" He took in the sword in pumpkin as Danny exclaimed with landing by the ghost.

"Trick *and* treat, bucket head!" On a more gentle note, he admitted the intent. "Told ya, I'd have it back by midnight." The Fright Knight ignored Danny as he rushed over to pull the sword free.

"No! No! *Nooo*!" He was blasted back as the storm start to recede before reversing itself and turning everything back to normal as the Fenton parents finally noticed the ecto-storm and moved to 'save' their son. The horse of nightmares was pulled into the vortex as Sam exclaimed to the serious updraft going on.

"It's sucking everything into the Ghost Zone! It's *working*!" She yelped as the updraft was also trying to take them as Danny snatched her wrist to keep her grounded.

"Sam!" He held fast before pulling her down, phasing a hand through the floor and keeping them there with a hand gripping a piping under the floor boards as the Fright Knight raged.

"I will have my vengeance! Mark my words!" The flames disappeared as the helmet fragmented to nothing before the remaining suit was pulled upwards into the fading storm before it cleared away, the sword and pumpkin disappearing as well as Tucker reappeared and cheered with tech in hand.

"*Yes*!" He held it in hand as he cheered. "Sweet beautiful technology, you're mine once again!" Lancer reappeared as well and Danny quickly reverted back to Fenton as Lancer whipped about to his innocent face as Lancer started.

"Mr. Fenton, I have to say that *was* the *most* horrifying thing I have ever seen." Danny stared blankly at the decision before Lancer beamed. "You win!" Danny pumped his fists in victory as Lancer exclaimed. "Take that, Tetslaff!" Sam came over to the smiling Danny and they shared a hug before Danny started to think about the whole thing before he called out to Lancer.

"Mr. Lancer? Wait up!" But he was in a monologue as he spoke.

"I can see it now, Tetslaff." He rasp-berried as he continued before Danny called out again.

"Mr. Lancer, wait." Lancer turned to the Fenton as he explained. "I have to be honest." Lancer listened as Danny continued. "I-I cheated."

"Cheated?" Lancer questioned with narrowed brow as Danny explained to the best of his ability while avoiding the ghost part.

"Well, I borrowed-eh-uh, 'stole', some of my parent's technology."

"You mean this stuff?" Sam added to the matter with the Fenton Foamer in hand with Tucker behind her as she gave a reasonable explanation. "Like the Fenton Foamer? Which causes a psychosomatic reaction in whoever's exposed to it, causing them to experience their worst fears?" They grinned with innocence as Danny played along with it.

"Yeah! That!" Lancer added to it as he explained with a smile of victory.

"Daniel, the good news for you is that I don't care." He motioned with his hand as he continued. "I have two scary rooms..." He glanced to his watch as he finished. "_..._and it's midnight!" He paused as he believed that he must have missed something completely, but he dismissed it as he cheered for celebration. "Let the party begin!" He rushed over to the doors to open them for the big night, but he was, just as quickly, doused.

"Nobody move!" He was quickly drenched in foam as Maddie and Jack smiled in 'purging' the area, but stopped as Lancer was covered in the foam with Danny, Sam, and Tucker as the night was made worse when Tetslaff scoffed at the poor quality of the house.

"Oh, 'Early oil spill'." She turned to the students that came for the party as well. "Come on. Let's get out of here." Before any could, a bell rang out and the people looked up as Lancer whipped about as one of the other doors slammed open as Cedric's voice rang out.

"What's going on here!?" All tensed up as he crept forward in a robe and cowl, like a wraith across the floor and scoffed. "A rip off of the Fright Knight?; The 'Spa of Doom'? What half-baked ideas were these!?" He extended a hand and the Foamers simply fell to pieces to everyone's surprise as Cedric continued with a haunting smile. "If you want fun and terror, come and see, meet the Hex Girls that I have 'invited' for the show." He faded back into the house as Tetslaff scoffed.

"This is dumb, it's clear Lancer lost so let's..." She froze from her departure as standing between her and the gate were gnomes... GNOMES that came out of nowhere and the people drew back in surprise as Tetslaff stammered. "L-L-Let's check the Hex Girls, please!"

"Oh, I forgot about Trace's room, I was so caught up in Daniel's room that I neglected the third room." Lancer rubbed his temples as he moaned. "Let's hope that it is very scary that I could win this contest of the teachers." The collected party headed in and the rooms seemed to grow eerie as they soon arrived and the door swung open to a set up.

It was expansive as one was the setup of a garage site, another was a gypsy area of Arabian lands and the last was a large stage from the windows with the whole rig of a concert. They all jumped as Cedric reappeared from the pluming mist that shrouded the room as blue lens gazed back. "Welcome, I know that you may not be afraid quite so, but I assure you that some of these attractions are not for the faint of heart, like our lovely couple from the grease and bikes over here." From the section described, a bad girl stepped out and glanced at the party as she spoke.

"Oh, joy, people to see what we can do, but I can't complain, I really wanted to make some fun this holiday." She stretched with a groan as Danny felt like he recognized the girl as she walked over to a built brick wall as she mused. "No one really realizes it, but sometimes people bury things in the walls around them and, as fortune would have it..." Without warning, she plunged a fist through the wall, the people gasping as it just slipped through instead of bruising and she pulled back before opening the hand to a jeweled necklace. "Not every corner of this place was cleaned out of its former wealth, dare me to be wrong?" She stepped away from the wall and gestured to it. "Then try to go through." One of the more daring students did so and pushed... against solid brick as he frantically tried to find some trick, some illusion before he yelped.

"There's no hole, it's just solid brick!"

"As it should..." Another voice spoke as a greaser-looking guy stepped away from his maintenance of a motor bike and stepped over as he used a light push from a fist to get the kid away from the wall. "My girl is such a nasty pickpocket that she just seems able to slip into places, me, on the other hand..." He spread out his hand and the brick seemed to shift before he pushed with his palm, the wall crumbling back to reveal a chest of stuff, ranging from the wealth of gold and jewels, to the remembered of toys and the like. "My touch is believed to be unlucky, like REALLY unlucky as this standing model can attest." The girl came back with a autonomy doll and the guy rested a hand on it before it just fell to pieces. "I just have the bad luck on my tips." He smirked as he returned to his work, the people speechless to the event before another voice came.

"Honestly, you would think that Rimpu would be more easy on those around us." They quickly turned to the Arabian setup, to find a young woman sitting on a mat before a crystal ball, her face hidden and Danny VERY confused as none of them actually looked familiar, but sounded familiar for some reason. "Still, we are not the most common of people and we are more than average." Tucker took the chance as he made to flirt with her.

"Hey, how's it going tonight?"

"No, the future is always in conflict, I have no idle time to be wasted on such mortal affairs."

"Ah, come on, I can see my..." The girl straightened up before the robe fell away to everyone's surprise of nothing inside, like she had disappeared completely and the ball started to float as a misted face spoke up.

"Like I said, tech-driven one, I am in tone with the future and have no time for mortal needs." The bell flew about the party as Lancer breathed to the 'illusion'.

"Funny, as if a crystal ball hanging by..." He swept a hand over it and gasped as he didn't touch a wire, it only met empty air as the ball continued to fly. "Artemis Fowl! It's flying on its own!"

"Ah, but that is not the finale, no, for this night to end..." The ball rested on the pedestal once more as the robes arose again and outstretched hands over it once more. "By the song of soul and rock, you will all fall under her sway." Before any could protest, a guitar start to strum out and their attention was suddenly drawn to the stage as smoke and mist clouded the wood before, out stepped a girl of robin-blue dyes of a witch's attire as she strummed with the bass line following and a drum beat to boot.

"_I'm gonna cast a spell on you. You're gonna do what I want you to. Mix it up here in my little bowl. Say a few words and you lose control!_" They fell under her sway as she called out with an accompanying vocal chord. "_I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you! (I'm gonna put a spell on you!) I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you! (Put a spell on you!)_" The people swayed without motion, even Jack who couldn't help but be dazed to some form of fog in his mind.

"_You'll feel the fog as I cloud your mind. You'll get dizzy when I make the sign. You'll wake up in the dead of night. Missing me when I'm out of sight!_" It pumped up once more as she called out. "_I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you! (I'm gonna put a spell on you!) I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you! (Oh yeah!)_" She stopped as she used her vocals to great effects with minor gesture of witchcraft.

"_With this little cobweb potion. You'll fall into dark devotion. If you ever lose affection. I can change your whole direction!_" It picked back up as she sung with the guitar her power. "_I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you! (I'm gonna put a spell on you!) I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you! (We're gonna put a spell on all of you!)_" She raised her arms in victory as an inferno consumed the stage and she vanished as it died down, only for Cedric to emerge from the mist.

"That was the Hex Girls, now please, make your ways home and remember, on this Halloween, the mystery is if you know fully of what has truly occurred..." With that, he disappeared as well and Danny shook off the haze that got him before he spoke.

"What just happened...?" He glanced to his hands to find a telescope in hand and yelped as everyone did the same to a number of items in their hands, he near panicked before finding a note on the side and read it. 'Everything you have now on hand is properly paid for, but your minds will not remember it, I will let you all waddle in a bit of self-doubt about this, this is a fear in of itself." Danny huffed as Tetslaff yelped that Lancer wins completely. "Gosh darn it, Cedric..."

* * *

Danny was expecting to be serving detention with Dash for both of their failures in comparison to Cedric's and he admitted to using his parent's gear to make it more scary, but the charges were dropped for a more terrifying punishment. He was pushed into service of working out, which was one of his weaker points, but he was relieved for the most part that Dash's own mind was not that able to handle hard equations, making him a successful tutor in the subjects, especially with his improved grades.

The only downside was that there would be NO interactions with the others, NOTHING, outside the study sessions and sports training and any excuse that Danny could make to go after ghosts was STRICTLY vetoed while the members faced off with the rampant ghosts themselves, even a new member joining the crew, though Cedric would have to make introductions later, something about her just seemed familiar... At least he wasn't eating Dash's underwear...


	16. S1 - Maternal Instincts

The day was bright and alive, but for the team that had formed, they were more into clocking the best that Danny Phantom can muster, excluding any strength tests or the like as he whizzed past and the speed gun in Tucker's hands clocked him going a hundred and twelve miles as he cheered with Sam taking notes. "Hundred twelve miles per. Lightin' up the speed gun, dude."

"Only a hundred twelve? He can do a bit better for a dipstick." The latest member of the gang was actually Ember as she switched up with her attire, not keeping to her ghost form's look, but was more modest for a teenager going to school, a tank top with T-shirt of KISS, a pair of shorts under a skirt, and her skin was like a light tan with radiant amber-golden of eyes looking back with a smirk, truly earning her the name of 'Topaz' as her new name, Topaz Lain, a side note to that was that Sam and her bonded GREATLY over the destruction of anything pink, what a holocaust it was.

Talia spoke up as she pointed out. "He could, but we are testing his abilities of a Demi, not the full max currently." Topaz rolled her eyes as Danny practiced his intangibility and Sam checked it off.

"Intangibility, check." He then went invisible to the majority of the gang looking around to find him, the only one seeing him still was Cedric, because he had installed a thermal vision to his Exorcist suit, even more apparent with a scanner earpiece, and he could see both humans, ghosts, and Demis just as easily, as Valerie, Topaz, Talia, Sam, and Tucker spoke up in confusion.

"Danny?" Said person dove down toward them as Tucker turned in search still.

"Invisibility, check." He flinched as Danny overshadowed him and his voice came through Tucker's body.

"Hi, I'm Tucker! Don't let the PDA, glasses, and lack of muscles fool you. I'm a stud." He paused before he spoke again. "Why am I hearing movie quotes in his head right now?" He shrugged as he left Tucker's body to his friend's comment.

"I hate when you just do that."

"I don't know, are you sure they were movie quotes, I thought that he was playing some manly love song."

"As did I, considering how often he hits on the fairer sex." Tucker raised his arms in disbelief to the two female Demis' remarks.

"What is this, 'Pick on Tucker' day!?" They just shrugged with smirks as Sam turned to the readied Danny.

"OK, hotshot. Let's ramp it up." With that, she engaged the system for combat training as he flipped through hoops, and dodged darts high up in the air before zapping targets of genetic ghosts... and Jazz, just because he was still a kid with her before he floated through the metal barriers that erupted from the floor as he gave a thumbs up to them before accidentally slamming into the wall and crumpling to the ground as Tucker mocked back.

"Hi, I'm Danny Fenton! Don't let the concussion and bruises fool you, I need more practice." Danny scowled as he rested a glowing hand to the floor and it slipped over to Tucker before he disappeared under the floor and it closed before Sam smiled with a comment.

"Wow, it's quiet in here!" The six friends burst out laughing before Danny retrieved Tucker from the actual basement and they went over what could be improved for Danny's training, one being to make the projectiles faster as ectoblasts can be much more quicker and more powerful than just darts and another to make the targets more interactive and numerous, heavens knows how many instinct-driven ghosts could easily be stopped or turned away...

* * *

Up on the actual flooring of FentonWorks, Maddie stared at a picture of her and Danny as she mused sadly. "Danny and I used to be so close." For the matter, however, Jack was more interested in playing with action figures of him and a generic ghost.

"Aha, take that!" He had his figurine punch the ghost one as he quoted himself from his 'battle' with Vlad. "Nobody makes a meat puppet out of Jack Fenton! Ah! Uh!" He paused in somehow giving the figurine a piece of jerky and having it look like the figurine was offering the jerky in the first place. "Fenton jerky?" Maddie sighed as she took the jerky from the figurine's hands.

"Gracias." She returned to musing over her 'bent' relationship with Danny. "We shared everything. Secrets, Bunsen burners, soda..."

"Ah, yes. Nothing says bonding like backwash."

"Danny's just shooting up so fast. Those special times seem to be slipping away." The matron of the Fenton family sighed over the memories. "Oh, I miss them." She hugged the picture of the two of them as Jack started.

"Maddie, they all have to grow up sometime." The moment was 'thwarted' when Jack just continued to play with the figures, quoting Vlad, in his defeated speech, this time. "Curse you, Jack Fenton! You've defeated me once again! Haha!" He paused as the doorbell rang and Jack exclaimed once more. "I'll get it!" He dashed for the door and opened it to an odd sight, a long-haired individual in a postal uniform, holding an envelope that was labelled with 'INVITE', the only problem with it was that the figure was green-skinned, red-eyed, and had a menacing look to them as Jack took the letter with a word. "Thanks, pal." He dug through his pocket before pulling out a nickel for the individual, they accepting the gesture, but the nickel went right through as Jack spoke once more to the event. "I would jump to a rash conclusion, but got a wife in need of emotional bonding with her boy. Oh, and try to get some sun. You're pale as a ghost." He closed the door and made his way back over to Maddie as he spoke. "Hey Maddie, some kind of invite for you. I can tell because it has the word 'invite' on it." It did as she took it in hand, opening the mail, and read it over before she lit up in joy as she leapt to her feet.

"Yes! Just what the doctor ordered." Meanwhile, Danny was trying something as the five friends looked at him before glancing at each other before Danny finally glowed and shifted before he turned from Danny Phantom, ghostly hero of Amity Park, to Danny Phantom, TWO-HEADED ghostly hero of Amity Park as Sam and Tucker gasped to the ability while Topaz, Talia, and Cedric looked and made notes before Tucker spoke up in amaze.

"Wow! You can eat a Nasty Burger and fries at the same time." The heads replied just the same in exhaust as the right head spoke.

"Yeah. The problem is, I can only split myself this far." The head glanced to his partner as he went off explaining.

"Vlad Plasmius can turn into like four different Vlads at once. That's what this weekend is about."

"Nonstop drills."

"No homework."

"No family." Both heads spoke at the end of it.

"No interruptions."

"Hey Danny!" Danny panicked from the sound of his mother coming and quickly reverted back to human, except had a single eye to which Tucker quickly smacked him in the back of the head and he went back to normal as Maddie arrived, holding some invite in hand as Talia, Topaz, and Cedric were chuckling behind their hands. "Pack your bags! We're going to a mother-son science symposium in Florida! Doesn't that sound fun?" Danny slumped as that just called to be a problem, but he still got ready as the group spoke to each other, Maddie having gone to pack her own bags for the trip.

"I got to say, the dipstick trying to figure out duplication? Not really something I was expecting him to be unable to do."

"Indeed, but to actually see him attempting such a advanced technique is quite the interesting prospect, we can actually watch him fail at being a ghost at times."

"Alright, you two, stop sassing the poor guy and let's go over the training for when he gets back, or you know, hone our skills about this whole business." They did so as Danny, after a good hour or so and seeing his friends off, entered a chat with Jazz over it in the living room.

"At least you're going somewhere. I'm doomed to 'special family alone time' with Dad." She took a look at the invite and mused over the name. "The DALV group. Never heard of them. Are they legitimate?"

"Legitimately boring, I'm guessing." Danny answered as Jack came over to Maddie by the stairs and spoke.

"Now, just to make sure you're protected from any rogue ghost attacks on the road, sweet cakes, I made you this." He held up a flexible metallic belt with a round lock on it in the Fenton's color scheme to Maddie's awe as Jack explained it out. "It's the Fenton Specter Deflector-" He secured it to her waist as he continued to explain its purpose. "-guaranteed to repel and weaken any ghost who comes in direct contact with you."

"Ooooh..." Maddie answered with admire as she turned the lock and it beeped before she focused on Jack. "Thanks, hon." She kissed him with some lingering words. "Oh, and Jack, try not to trash the house while I'm gone..." She headed over to the door as Jack huffed in disbelief.

"Suck the house into a parallel dimension one time, and you just can't let it go, can you?" But the notion was given up as the pair headed out, clueless to their real destination as this would have been the dark plan of one former college buddy, but this was not his fault fully...

* * *

A private jet soared high in the sky as its passengers were the pair of mother and son as Maddie pointed in glee while Danny sulked to his failed plans. "Come on, Mr. Pouty Pants. This weekend is supposed to be about us. Those DALV people sent this private jet just for us. How perfect is that?"

"Do you want the truth, or one of those little white lies that doesn't hurt your feelings?" Danny kicked himself, what kind of answer is that, she just wanted to bond and here he was, rejecting it in hopes of training his ghost powers as she sighed in regret and spoke in return.

"Oh, forget it, Danny. Just look out the window at that warm, sunny Florida coastline." Unfortunately, that was the moment that their trip was cancelled... forcibly as the intercom came alive.

"Folks, this is your captain speaking. If you look out the window on your left, you'll see the cold, bleak Colorado Rockies." Maddie's right, but Danny's left as Danny exclaimed in disbelief.

"The Rockies? That's nowhere near Florida, that's away from Florida. What gives?"

"And if you look out the window on your right side, you'll see me bailing out of the plane before it careens out of control and crashes." Both looked out in alarm as the pilot did just jump out of the plane with a parachute on his back and glanced to each other before they booked for the cockpit, empty as the plane started to make a nosedive before Maddie moved to pull the plane up, but it was impossible as she exclaimed.

"The controls are jammed, Danny. How do we get out of this?"

"I know one way..." He whispered to himself before he crouched down, hiding his transformation in Phantom and moved to go intangible with his mom, but the Specter Deflector countered him as he was zapped and thudded into the wall with reverting back, his energy pulled out some and leaving him dazed as Maddie looked back and quickly dashed to his side as she exclaimed.

"Danny, you OK?" He quickly replied with slapping the hand away before the Deflector shocked him again.

"Yeah, I'm fine." That moment also left them notice that there were a pair of parachutes and Maddie exclaimed as much.

"Danny, parachutes." She pluck one of them up, its label Danny, and tossed it to him as she slung the one with her name on. "Let's go!" He pulled his own on and both jumped for it out of the plane as the chutes engaged and floated them down as somehow, the pilot floated up to meet them with a walkie-talkie in hand.

"Folks, at this time, I'd like to inform you that you've been the victims of a cruel hoax!" He transformed into the postal guy to the pair's surprise as he finished. "Thank you for flying Air Evil Plot." He flew up to the plane and it took off without them as Danny crossed his arms and huffed as Maddie assured him.

"Oh, come on, Danny. Don't be so glum. Look at the view!" He descended down into the wide Colorado forest that they had found themselves in and Maddie went straight to work with her machete as she huffed and smiled to the following Danny. "Whew! Good thing I had my Fenton Machete tucked away in my boot, eh, Danny?"

"You carry a lot of stuff, Mom. How about a Fenton Cell Phone so we can call for help?"

"Cell phone? Oh, you can't fight ghosts with a cell phone, silly. Not that we're likely to find any ghosts around here. Besides, who needs help?" Maddie went right back to slashing through the bushes and foliage that barred their path. "I'm perfectly comfortable with us roughing it in the woods..." Cutting through some more, she gasped to the appearance of a large lodge that was initialed with a V as she commented. "...Ooooor we could just stay at this ritzy mountain chalet. I'm open."

"I wonder, though..." Danny whispered to himself as he looked at it, a bit uneasy with the whole thing right now. "Whose idea was this...?" To the honk of a horn, the pair glanced to the side to find Vlad Masters driving up, just as surprised as them, as he commented.

"Why, if it isn't Maddie and Danny Fenton."

"Vlad Masters?!" Mother and son exclaimed as Vlad rolled with it.

"Oh, what an amazing, unexpected, and totally unplanned surprise." He pulled out two gift baskets for the pair as he continued. "Personalized gift baskets?" Maddie laughed in delight as she headed of to the cart while Danny was just skeptical, but still sent a smirk.

"You're up to something, Uncle..."

"Oh, you think so? Just some harmless enjoyment." Maddie took both baskets as she popped into the side seat before he looked at a device on his wrist, away from the pair. "Something's up, go check on Jack and Jazz."

"What was that?"

"I said... flapjacks. Mm-hmm. Pancakes. I have pancakes." He answered with diverting the chat as he revved the engine of the cart which splattered Danny before heading off, Vlad turning his head in apology. "Sorry, Daniel, the cart was tuned recently and it has too much horsepower." Danny rose a hand and wiped the mud off before he commented.

"Well... at least, I know Vlad is not behind this trip, but if he isn't with his vault of gold and dollar bills, then who is...?" He followed suit as something seemed to be staring out of the woods far from the cabin, a single eye taking in the prize...

* * *

Jazz was in the living room as she was talking to someone on the phone. "OK, I'll see you later." He hung up at her home as Jack bolted in with a metal rod in hand.

"Hey, Jazzerincess, check this out!" He held it up as he detailed it, the second invention today. "It's my Jack-o'-Nine-Tails. How's about a quick tutorial?"

"How about a quicker no?" Jack frowned, a bit upset over it as Jazz bluffed her way through. "I'm not interested in ghost fighting, Dad." She finished up with standing up. "In fact, I'm going out." She headed off to get her stuff together as Jack called out in warning.

"Hey, rope it in, little miss. Be careful. Teenage boys are like wild animals." Jazz didn't pay heed to it, but wished she partly did as she opened the front door to a monstrous rabbit of a ghost looming outside and snarled at her as she, first instinct was to scream, was also mentally kicking herself.

'I wish I had the Fenton Peeler right now!' The monster made to chomp on her, but she was quickly pulled away and landed on the floor as Jack jumped inbetween the pair with a shout.

"Back off, she's a minor!" He fired the Jack-o'-Nine-Tails at the beast, his face in the center of a collection of ten clamps, ensnaring the beast, but had the unexpected effect of causing it to bloat and explode, the portion of the house covering in ectoplasm, Jack included as he answered. "Alright, first ghost I have ever actually had on my own and I am covered in ectoplasm... and I am not being affected... Curious..." The moment was cut short as Jazz dashed over and praised her dad.

"Dad, you saved me from that monster!" Jack answered while they had unexpected company in observing, the vulture kind.

"Yep. It's what I do, Princess." He retracted the weapon before resting a hand on Jazz's shoulder. "That, and needlepoint, which is artsy and relaxing. Now, come on! I'm putting this house under ghost lock-down!" He triggered the Jack-o'-Nine-Tails on accident as he mused. "I should probably adjust something before I can call this a finished tool." Meanwhile, up in Colorado with Maddie, Danny, and Vlad, Danny was taking to looking around at the number of hunting trophies Vlad seems to have, even yelping to the bear rug before casting a glance toward Vlad, eyes widening that Vlad, spelled backwards, was Dalv from the naming on his fancy housecoat, he getting a flash of Phantom and Plasmius ready to duke it out, but it disappeared and Danny took in the pondering look of Vlad, certainly not the look of success and victory that the man could be holding. He broke the moment with a turn and inquired.

"So, what brings you two to these parts?" Maddie glanced up from the book of ghosts she had on hand as she explained it in brief tones.

"You'll never believe it. We were on our way to this symposium, and our pilot forced us out of the plane right over your house!" She turned back to the book, but it was the raised brow that caught Danny's attention as he finished it up with a theory of his own.

"Yeah, it's almost like it's some sort of villainous plot." He huffed out a scowl as he finished. "What an incredibly well-planned coincidence."

"That would be an oxymoron, dear boy." Vlad pointed out as he continued on. "Oh, and speaking of morons, how's your old man?" Danny spoke back with his eyes aglow.

"I THOUGHT you buried the hatchet with Dad."

"Ooh, the scary eyes. And, first, I did bury the hatchet, but you see, I have to muse myself with some of Jack's quirky personality." He glanced to the side with a smile. "He can be dull and a bumbler, but he is one-of-a-kind, after all, I just wish he would have visited me sometimes." He glanced back and eyes widened when he blasted an ectoblast from them, Danny dodging just fine in the chair, but he toppled off the chair, nearly causing Maddie to see the gaping hole in the chair, but Vlad blocked it as he worked with being a gentleman. "Maddie, I'm so glad you're here, though. It gives me the chance to apologize for troubling you and also the strange behavior that Jack did at our college reunion." Maddie peered back to the book as a ghostly bookmark popped up from it before Danny inquired, getting up from the smoking chair, curious as to why Vlad looked terrified of blasting him with the ectoblast, he could have handled it, but a glance told him that, if Maddie saw it, the trip would be ruined in a way.

"Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Dad possessed by some filthy, putrid, lonely, single ghost? Just asking here." Vlad smirked as he pointed a finger and Danny was blasted back with a ectoblast as he mused. "Whoa, this is both cool and dangerous, he does have a lot of experience with this stuff." However, the sound made Maddie pause before Vlad swept around and closed the book that she was reading in the first place as he started off.

"Well, if he hadn't been so weak, perhaps that never would have happened, hm?" That was a bluff, he knew that anyone could be overshadowed, but a strong-willed individual could easily converse with the ghost in question, even force him out, Jack COULD do it, but Vlad didn't know who could be such a successful repellent of ghosts as Maddie cut in, walking over to a bookshelf and looking through the titles.

"Now, Vlad, Jack might be a bumbler, but he means well." She pulled one out, 'Paranormal Science', and started to read it as Vlad huffed.

"I know, Maddie." He then started to list off details that were on his mind about the whole thing. "And I've forgiven him for many things: causing the accident that ruined my life, stealing you, the backwash incident-" He was cut short when Maddie paused and questioned with a startle.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. _What _was that?" Vlad spoke again in confusion.

"Causing the accident that ruined my life?"

"N-no, _after _that."

"The... backwash incident?" Maddie was exasperated as she gestured for the middle part.

"_No_! In. The. Middle!"

"Oh, the stealing you part?" He came closer as he explained. "Ah, you always could see right through me." He dropped to a single knee and pleaded with her as he spoke. "I am just a bit lost on that matter and I deeply care for you, but I will not ask you to dump Jack and live here with me, I am more than content being the uncle of your kids." He got back up as he continued. "I'll say outright... I still love you, back in our college days, I loved you deeply, and I understand that Jack had your heart first, but... some small piece of me wanted to be the 'one', you know." He was surprised when Maddie planted a kiss on his cheek as he gasped with raising a hand to it as Maddie spoke.

"Oh, I missed you too, but I can't be yours, but I do prefer you to be the uncle of Danny and Jazz." She paused as she glanced down and spoke again. "That said, I think me and Danny need some personal bonding, I feel a drift coming between us and I want to reconnect with him, so with that said..." She headed to the door and spoke. "Come on, Danny, let's try some camping." She plunked him up, he looking no worse for wear, though the foot going through the wall was new, and they headed out into the Colorado night air as Danny called out.

"Bye Vlad! We'll be back soon, though if you could, maybe get yourself a cat, I heard they are excellent comfort partners!" Vlad huffed playfully as he spoke back.

"Good advice, Daniel, I'll check when the trip is over for you two, have fun out there!" Meanwhile, back at Fenton Works, Jack and Jazz stood back to back as Jack mused, the entryway still covered in ectoplasm as the vultures just watched and reported back through a wireless line.

"You know, in retrospect, perhaps I shouldn't have gutted the FentonWorks Ghost Shield to make your mom's anti-ghost belt."

"You know, that is a pretty good reason why we can't just shield up from these things." A pair of ghost hawks soared in and Jazz yelped in terror. "Oh, more ghosts! Get 'em, Daddy!" The birds dove in and Jack readied the Jack-o'-Nine-Tails, but the two tag-teamed him and bowled him over as Jazz quickly snatched the weapon, the birds focused on Jack as their claws extended out on the man who crashed into the wall, but they won't be given the chance to use them as Jazz blasted the weapon at the pair and hurled them back down to the ground in a battle cry.

"Aye-aye-aye-ya-ya-ya-ya!" The birds vanished before the Nine-Tails retracted and Jazz smiled as she cheered in a victory pose. "Yes!"

"Wow! Note to self: Make a Jazz action figure." He held up his action figure and squeezed it as the night had just barely began to be a ghost fest.

* * *

In the woods, Maddie had set up quite the impressive camp site as Danny just stared into the fire, Maddie wiping her brow on the wooden tent before somehow making two sleeping bags from two pills and drops of water before she walked over to sit on the log and join Danny by the fire before pulling out a piece of jerky from her belt. "Fenton Jerky?" Danny huffed in reply.

"Pass." Maddie glanced to the jerky before becoming downcast as she mused over the trip.

"Danny, this weekend certainly isn't turning out like I planned, but we're spending it together, and that just means the world to me." She placed her hand on Danny's and the Belt attacked as Danny yelped with getting shocked as he swiftly yanked his hand away.

"Yah! Ok! I get it! Stop touching me." Maddie pulled away with a little of surprise and pain as Danny vocalized his intent. "Look, I'm gonna sleep over here, OK?" Dashing away, he took the red sleeping bag as Maddie slumped and called out to him.

"Well, good night, Danny. I love you." She herself pulled her sleeping bag into the shelter as Danny replied back.

"Mm-hmm. Good night." He rolled over to Maddie's sigh and full entry into the wooden tent before a very large hairy leg stomped in front of Danny and he replied in terror. "Either Mom needs to shave her legs, or this is really bad news." A six-legged bear ghost towered over him before lunging, snatching him up and hauling him away...

* * *

It got worse when Danny was tossed into one of the chairs at the chalet while a motley swarm of animal ghosts surrounded him, their master floating down, but he was not Plamius, to Danny's relief, it was a burly-looking beast of a man, pale dark and milky white eyes to a torn lumberjack appearance as Danny quickly got up and commented. "Nice petting zoo, _Lumber."_ He went ghost as he continued. "Where's the lonely-guy cat?"

"Ah, teen wit, good trait." He pulled out a device that didn't match up and zapped Danny with it like it was a taser, electrocuting him and forcing him back to human as Danny exclaimed in shock.

"wW-wh-what was _that_?"

"Oh, it called Plasmius Maximus, stole it from bore halfa, stops powers 'til midnight." Danny glanced to the clock and it put him in a position of weakness for three hours as the brute continued. "Stole beasts as well, meant for chase, but Lumber want body to hunt again, but Lumber can't while fat man is alive and whelp is protected by fat man."

"So the invite, the scheme!?"

"Lumber plan, female good stock, but first possess body, but Maximus not enough, brutal maul needed to weaken body to possess and crush whelp soul." Danny grimaced as he bolted for the door, thankfully the lug was not too fast, but his 'captive' animals weren't the same as he bellowed. "Tear whelp apart!" The animals started the chase and Danny booked as best as he could, but the Maximus had weakened him badly, in connection to the belt as he pushed through branch, bush, and brush as the animals pursued with eagerness as Danny had only a moment to catch his breath before trying again to escape, but tripped on a root, causing him to fall and weakly reaching to pull himself up before a camouflaged hand snatched his arm and pulled him up, Maddie on a higher branch in a mud camo, and a coil of ecto-rope in the other hand as she lightly scolded Danny.

"Remind me later how much trouble you're in for leaving the campsite." Danny glanced up to his wrist and was amazed, the Belt was not hurting him.

"Wow, that doesn't hurt." Maddie set him down on the branch before throwing down a loop, the ghost bear peering about before recognizing the trap far too late as it was snatched up to Maddie's words to Danny.

"Be right back."

"Sure... I can wait." Her mom jumped and hauled the bear up before fastening the rope to the trunk and faced the rest of the animals, activating the Fenton Belt and shatter the mud covering her to her normal look as she taunted in a martial arts pose.

"Come on, dazzle me." A wolf tried its luck, only to get kicked in the head before Maddie, performing a gymnast routine on a routine landed and pulled out a metal rod that extended out as a strike staff as Danny just questioned.

"How can she not have a phone in there?" Maddie tore through the ghosts with relative ease as the strike staff just made them go poof; bashing a bison in the head, getting in-between the two heads of a lynx, a three-headed beaver was swatted away, and a hawk was knocked out of the air while Maddie just screamed in a war-cry, Glancing back with a glare before leaping again and smashing a moose, a pair of rabbits tried to intimidate her, but she just adjust her goggles and they fired ectoblasts to everyone's surprise. "HOW can she even do that, that is just impossible!" She whipped around to the last of the standing threats, ready to smack them, but scared them off with a simple 'Boo'. They scamper off as Maddie turned to scold Danny as he slid down from the tree.

"Now, young man, would you mind telling me what you thought you were doing?!" That was ruined when Danny came over and hugged her arm in joy.

"You are awesome!" She gasped in surprised as she thanked him.

"Ohh, honey, thank you!"

"I will destroy you!" Swift dispatch to that gopher as Maddie spoke again.

"But we better start moving, in case those ghosts come back." She deactivated the weapon and headed off as Danny stammered before following.

"Uh, wait for me!" He took after her and soon, he was riding piggyback on Maddie as he spoke. "I, uh, think we gave those ghost animals the slip. Uh... shouldn't we figure out a way to call Dad?" Maddie huffed as she spoke in turn.

"As much as I WOULD hate to say this, I think we should go back to Vlad's." There was not a level of bitterness toward the man as Danny hopped to the ground.

"But he could be out right now! I mean, he... said all those horrible thing about Dad."

"Yes, but they are both true, and makes him a bit of a creep." Danny nodded as she continued on. "But he is your uncle, he is allowed his interests, and he has a phone and transportation." On a more cheery note, she continued. "And pancakes." Danny rolled his eyes as Maddie... detached the belt. "Here, put this on." Danny yelped as the Fenton Belt was fastened to his waist and Maddie holding the key. "I know it's girly, but it's for your own protection." She headed off as Danny gingerly touched the belt, knowing the effect it could have when it hits the time.

"Great. At midnight, I get my powers back. At twelve-oh-one, the belt zaps me, and at twelve-oh-two, Vlad COULD try to make out with my mom." He cringed as he continued on. "Those are going to be the worst two minutes of my life, and it is if Vlad knows what's going on here and ignores it."

* * *

Jazz looked at herself in the mirror down in the lab before pulling the hood, blinking a few times before she spoke. "Good gravy, I look like Mom, but shorter and less curved." She glanced to the side where seven more suits rested as she continued. "Still, it's a good material, where did Dad even find this stuff?" The moment was broken when Jack stomped in with a ectogun and ecto-rope in hand as he started to speak.

"Jazz, honey, I-" He paused as Jazz turned to him as he exclaimed for a brief moment. "Maddie! You're home!"

"Dad, it's me, Jazz."

"Jazz?" Jack dropped the weapons on the ground as he commented. "Why, look at you. You're the spitting image of your mother." He sniffed happily as he continued. "I knew this day would come. That's why years ago I had this made for you." He ran over to the closet and pulled out a titanic jumpsuit to Jazz's surprise and unease.

"...Nice." Jack started again as he apologized for the colossal attire.

"Sorry about the size. I thought you'd be swimming in my end of the gene pool-the end that's filled with ranch dressing, melted cheese, and fudge. Lots of fudge." Jazz diverted the conversation away as she just tried to play it off.

"Look, this is just a sociological experiment. I figure I owe it to myself to experience all this ghost stuff one time, so I can hate it in a more informed context."

"I don't know what you're saying, sweetheart. But I do know that ghost fighting is in your blood!"

"No way! I am not like you and Mom." She turned with crossed arms. "I'm a brilliant, reasonable, sophisticated girl."

"In a blue hazmat suit."

"In a blue-yahh!" She whipped back around as she spoke back. "Quit messing with me! No more talk about ghost fighting, OK?" Sadly, that was not for the moment as more ghost animals emerged from the walls as Jack shouted.

"No talk, ACTION!" He rushed over and tossed the ectogun to Jazz who quickly fired with ease and took out some of the ghosts as the Jack-o'-Nine-Tails performed a helicopter motion as the two joined together, smiled with some glee before yelling into battle.

Back up in Colorado, the pair of mother and son Fentons arrived to the door of the chalet and Danny checked his watch, pulling it out of his pocket and writing it on his wrist as he spoke. "Oh, great. Ten to twelve." He glanced up to Maddie as he asked. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Danny, if we're gonna get out of here, we need Vlad's help." Danny glanced down to the key as he quickly bolted to the door.

"But before you go in there and 'flirt' our way out of here, I just want to say... I love you." The surprise was enough as he removed the key as Maddie returned the hug.

"I love you, too." She moved past him, heedless of the missing key... or so. "Clingy." She walked up to the door and knocked, the doors opening to an unhappy Vlad before he cheered up.

"Maddie! Daniel! You've returned to me. How was the camping?" He glanced down to the belt as Maddie spoke.

"Danny, go somewhere else while the adults talk." Vlad looked surprised, but smiled to the coy smile as well before the frown took place as Vlad spoke.

"I hear that just fine, but I actually want to talk to Daniel right now, something crossed my mind and I wanted his opinion on something, is that okay?"

"Oh! Uh, sure." She walked past as she mused. "If you need me, I will be in the study." Both waved as Maddie vanished before Vlad reached over, but before he could, Danny quickly unlocked the belt and breathed as he somehow powered it down.

"That was close, I would have gotten zapped big time, so would you."

"I see, the belt is something part of the Fenton engineering, but that is not what I want to talk about." He rested a hand on Danny's shoulder and lead on while the belt just hung in hand. "Tell me what you can about this trip, I need to know to compare notes."

"Alright, it goes like this..."

* * *

Vlad folded his arms in thought as Danny explained the whole thing, from the invite to a science symposium, the bailing pilot and him being a ghost, to the burly thug that wanted to possess him and kill Jack as 'the fat man was protecting him' as Vlad recapped. "I see, a ghost named Lumber is trying to possess you and do 'SOMETHING' in the living world..." Danny noted how Vlad gripped his arms with surprising grip at the very mention of Maddie being 'good stock'. "...He has taken my Plasimus Maximus, sicked my current animal subjects on you to tear you up and weaken you enough to do so, and has sent some of them after Jack to kill him."

"Yeah, now what is your side of the story, I can understand the Dalv group, I saw your name backwards in the mirror."

"Oh, yes, Dalv is actually my paranormal division, I needed to have one, just in case of any real and dangerous entities coming from the Ghost Zone itself, it also isolates and contains any artifacts that have a strong enough ecto-presence to warrant any ghost haunting." He rubbed his jaw as he continued. "The animals were also part of Dalv as they were close to death in life and we... incidentally brought them back as ghosts, but they are docile normally from both social conditioning and mental, animal ghosts are not very complex from the start of all of it, also the trophies are fake, we buried the real ones for peace and quiet."

"And the symposium?"

"Daniel, the science symposium is within two weeks." He held up two fingers as he continued on. "Even if I sent the invite, which I did not do nor employ Samson Side as both pilot and messenger, I only send out invites to those that are able to contribute to the scientific world." He turned his eyes back to Danny as he continued on. "Maddie is a brilliant mind in chemistry, mechanical engineering with Jack, both have permits to engineer devices just the same, but paranormal science is not a proven field, they would have been ousted beforehand and I never send an invite for just a pair, it is often the whole family, despite my more shady transactions." He walked to the side as Danny asked from the chair.

"And Lumber, where does he fit into all of this?"

"That is the question, and I have a brief notion of who." He pulled out a book and opened it with a nod before walking back over and placing it on Danny's lap for him to read the news clippings and entries. "Barlo Lumber, ex-convict and small-time lumberjack, he was a dark sort of man as he 'entertains' women to his side and ends their lives before burying them, hidden among the trees, I believe that if young Topaz was still around at that time, she would have been on his hit list." Danny gripped hard, to think that someone would target one of his friends, even if they were just barely friends recently as Vlad pointed it out. "The local government finally caught up to him and had him dead to rights, but he put up a fight, too much so as fire and wood made for a bad combination, he was trapped under a pile of burning trees and cursed that he would return, younger and stronger than ever before, to reign once more with power and intent." Danny checked it and the event happened, just barely out of Ember's own death in a house fire by two years as Vlad spoke once more. "I see that he has targeted you for his host body, as for Jack, I think I know the partial answer, Lumber viewed other men an obstacle for him and did away with them before hunting down the women, Jack serves as a protective line for you and is just as much in danger as we had suspected." The book closed as Danny spoke.

"But how did he end up turning into... you know."

"A ghost?" The teen nodded as Vlad hummed before he spoke. "It is a far-fetched theory, but a natural portal emerged around that time and sucked his soul out of his body before pouring it back out into our world, five years later, he had not enough of a presence in the world that he could be doing any of this, but a few days ago... mostly likely Halloween, there was a massive surge of ecto-power and one piece of that power seemed to have lingered here, but it vanished before I could investigate." Danny grimaced as that meant that the Fright Knight's power did reach to the other places, but he was worried that it had some lingering effects as he next asked.

"CAN he even possess me, I mean being a Demi and all, shouldn't we just switch bodies or something?"

"Oh, Daniel, that only happens with a separate realm of reality and a ghost whose purpose was that reality." Danny breathed as that kicked the Poindexter event to the curb here as Vlad continued. "Nonetheless, if he manages to weaken you low enough, your natural defense will be no match for him and he can overwhelm you, it will take longer if he intends to destroy your soul to make a permanent residence in your body, but you are one of the toughest people I have ever seen and noted, you fighting the warden of the Ghost Zone is an impressive feat." Danny opened his mouth, but closed it to the smirk, so he made to say something else before a voice rang out.

"So what can we do to stop him?" Both jumped and turned to Maddie, arms crossed as both stammered to answer.

"Maddie/Mom, I can explain!"

"Oh, don't bother, Jack is a bumbler and can miss minor cues..." She walked over with resolve and both straightened up as she finished. "...I do not, I noticed how you wanted to be with me over Jack, Vlad, and I have forgiven you completely, but overshadowing him is one thing I am not so sure I can forgive, and Danny, you know better than to bluff your way through life, we share everything together, Fentons bond with backwash..." Both shook at the notion as Maddie crossed her arms again and spoke. "Now, you will tell me what the Wisconsin Ghost and Public Enemy Number One are doing here and WHAT I am suppose to do with the two of you in the first place."

"Lumber have idea." The trio turned in surprise as Lumber phased through the wall and landed on the floor as he continued. "Lumber destroy older halfa, kill fat man, possess and destroy whelp soul for new body, and Lumber make female new stock." Maddie looked in shock before she turned to Vlad.

"You know..." Vlad gulped as Maddie continued. "You are FAR better than that thing, but don't let it go to your head."

"Oh, Maddie... I won't, one bit." Both took stance as Vlad asked Danny. "Ready to display some of that 'teen wit' to your superior?"

"Just as long as you keep up, old timer." Both transformed into Phantom and Plasimus as Maddie, knowing the battle to come, sprinted past as she shouted.

"Keep old bait-breath entertained until I can find a phone." She headed out as Vlad commented.

"We've in the middle of Colorado woods, there are no phones here."

"Yeah, but what about vehicles?"

"Point taken." The pair went to work to fight off the looming ghost while Maddie checked throughout the rooms for anything that could help out right now.

"No phone... No phone..." The pair worked hard to fight off their adversity as the two bantered as Lumber made for poor company.

"About that other reality thing, I accidentally got that to happen to me, I was stuck in Dexter's torture world."

"Sidney Poindexter?" Vlad dodged before countering. "Cheese logs, Daniel, did you explain the issue to him?"

"Tried, but I was acting the bully to Dash Baxter, my version of a bully."

"I see, well..." He snatched Daniel out of the way of a thrown axe as Danny slingshot with an ectoblast. "Any other events you want to talk about?"

"Halloween, for one, I got caught as part of a 'fight' with Dash and Mr. Lancer had us both on scary house duty and the least scary was put in detention, I have been getting better, but still, I wanted to avoid it and Dash didn't make it easy either with a bet between us."

"What was the bet...?"

"I eat his dirty, smelly underwear to my making him run around the school parking lot in his underwear."

"Ah, classic bet statements." He groaned as he got a punch in the gut, but countered just as well before Lumber could focus solely on Danny. "I take it that you won?"

"Barely, but it was wrecked and I nearly did eat underwear, but Cedric both saved and punished me and Dash with his scary house, he somehow got Topaz to sing and we were left with paid gifts in our hypnotic trance."

"My word, I should really meet this Cedric, he sounds like an absolute mastermind at times."

"Sometimes, I feel that he is." Maddie checked upstairs to a helicopter as she mused.

"Helicopter... but no phone. And Danny thinks _I'm_ a nut." The pair bashed Lumber to pieces before Vlad allowed Danny to blow on the guy, toppling him fully as Lumber made his threat.

"Fine, halfas. You defeat me. But you forgot my pets." He whistled as several of the animal ghosts surrounded them and Lumber called out. "Destroy both!"

They closed in before Danny pointed out. "Finish us? But why are you mad at us? I'm not the one who made your pelts into wall art." Danny answered while gesturing to the hunting trophies as the beasts look to Vlad as he spoke.

"And I am no hunter, I have no need for such cruel art,these are all fake, I ensured you were buried for peace." Finally, the animals turned to Lumber as he scoffed.

"Stupid beasts, Lumber more powerful than bear, mightier than lion, more capable than..." The rant was cut short by a Plasimus Maximus to the side and Lumber slumped forward in a less ghostly light as Danny commented in Phantom form.

"And now you're not. I'll give you a five-minute head start, Lumber."

"Really?"

"Minutes, seconds. I can be bad at math sometimes." He lashed out. "Get him!" Lumber ran for it with the animals in pursuit as the pair watched him disappear before both, on a whim, bumped fists as Vlad questioned.

"So, shall we tell your mother what we are?"

"She saw us change, so it is only fair." Both turned as Maddie reentered and inquired.

"What happened to Lumber?"

"He... ran out for a bite." Both said as Danny took over the chat.

"How are we getting out of here?"

"Oh, I don't know. I couldn't find a phone, and there wasn't one in the cars, or the ATVs or in the helicopter-" She realized what she just said and face-palmed with an 'Oh' as Vlad spoke.

"You have permission to take the copter, I have no qualm with that." Maddie smiled before it dropped and she spoke.

"Okay, truth time, what are you and where are..."

"Your middle name is Gertrude and you despises the name so much that you officially changed it to Uranium in spite of your parents." Vlad spoke, Maddie's eyes widening before she glanced to Danny and he spoke.

"When I was five, I begged you to get me ice cream, but you told me that I didn't want to overdose on sugar, Dad treated me to a rocky mountain sundae when you were not looking and scolded him for hyping me up on the sugar." Tears formed in her eyes before she grappled both of them by the neck and sobbed, both having given too much of a detailed truth to NOT be Vlad or Danny.

"Oh, Vlad, Danny, what happened to the both of you...?" They comforted her as best as they could as Vlad answered first.

"The ecto-acne I got in college was a precursor to me having ghost powers and they developed over the years, and I grew bitter by that time when neither you or Jack could actually visit me." Danny was next as he answered.

"I saw how upset you and Dad were when the Portal didn't work, so when I brought Sam, Tucker, and Cedric over, we checked out the Portal, the 'on' button was inside the portal, I... didn't get a small shock, Cedric confirmed that my DNA had been merged with a refined amount of ectoplasm when it surged through me before I stumbled out of the Portal to my friends' shock." Maddie tried to breathe, but she couldn't find the words as Vlad spoke.

"Get your mother home, Daniel, I'll visit soon to make her feel better about what happened in the past."

"Don't worry, Vlad, I will." Danny reverted back to human with Vlad as he guided Maddie to the helicopter and waved goodbye to Vlad as the uncle waved back.

* * *

The pair got some distance before Maddie finally spoke while Danny drunk some soda. "Now sweetie, we're not going to mention any of this to your father, right? He'd be insanely jealous if he found out, so... mum's the word."

"Actually, I think _Mom's_ the word." Maddie smiled as Danny apologized. "Sorry, I was such a jerk and sorry for hiding being half-ghost from you. I really had a good time, though." He offered his soda to her. "Backwash?"

"Oh, Danny, that is so sweet." She took it as he asked.

"So how did you know about it before?"

"Well, the devices, for one, it was strange how our devices were homing in on you in the first place and I also... saw injures on you, you hide them, but I can still notice patchwork attempts of helping with medical supplies." She took a sip as she continued with one hand on the controls. "Were you afraid of us because of our methods?"

"Yeah... I was, I was afraid of being viewed less than human, seen as less than... me." Danny gestured to himself as he continued. "I... had an encounter with a ghost that used misery to fuel its youth of a disguise, it cut into me with insecurities and I was afraid, Jazz was there as she was the target for a 'wide-spread' depression plot." They flew on as Maddie spoke.

"So... any other ghosts that have given you and Amity trouble?"

"Not really, the Box Ghost is a bother, but he is rather tame, Technus is just trying to promote technology in dramatic statements and... might have gotten the idea of world domination from me by accident." Maddie rolled her eyes as Danny continued. "Dora is nice, when she is not angry or emotional charged into being a dragon, Lunch Lady is obsessed with kids eating right with piles of meat, Poindexter is just looking out for the little man."

"Sounds like you have found some notable ghosts around and not many are vile at all, makes me rethink the statements of post-human consciousness."

"You couldn't have known." Danny assured her as they soon landed near Fenton Works as Jack scrambled inside with a shout.

"Quick, Jazz, they're back! Remember, not a word of what went on here."

"My lips are sealed." Jazz answered while still in the hazmat suit, holding a broom, dust pan, and full trash bag. "And as long as the house is ghost-free, they'll never know. Oh and Dad? Thanks." Jack beamed as Jazz left before he jumped over to the couch and picked up his ghost needlepoint, just as Maddie and Danny entered to Jack exclaimed, 'in the process of the needlepoint'.

"Hey-hey, look who's back! How was your weekend?" The pair made it sound rather dull before glancing to each other before Danny spoke.

"I gotta go call Tucker, Sam, and Cedric. But, um." He kissed his mom on the cheek as he finished. "You know." She smiled to the gesture before heading off upstairs for the moment as Danny turned to his dad. "So, how was your weekend?"

"Oh, you know, same old."

"Well, I guess everything's back to normal then." Unfortunately, something came abounding down as Jazz screeched while atop the three-headed ghost beaver."

"Get out of my house, you freak!" She popped back in to greet Danny. "Hi Danny!" She popped back out as Jack called out.

"Hey, wait for me! It's my turn!" He quickly handed the frizzy drink he had to Danny before pulling out the Jack-O-Nine Tails and racing after the pair as Danny mused.

"Meh, I'll tell Dad later, surprised that he hasn't noticed my suit missing from the rack, Jazz is somehow too much like Mom in that hazmat suit, less curved though." He glanced to the drink and took a sip before speaking it back up as he exclaimed. "Oh, gross! Backwash! How do we even bond with this, really!?" A few days later, Vlad Masters dropped by and gave Maddie a gift from Florida, a copy of a book that she was looking into for thermodynamics, and that made everyone's day...


	17. S1 - Lucky in Love

On the hot days for Amity Park, nothing quite takes off the blistering heat like 'Floody Waters', a water amusement park where everyone goes to get some fun in their lives, but that fun is also accompanied by danger as the party were at the water park for the fun as well, two groups actually as Danny, Sam, and Tucker were in a line for a ride called 'Terror Mountain' while Cedric, Talia, and Topaz were off to the side, Valerie herself couldn't make it due to her family's financial status, not even Sam's sway could get her on board.

Tucker was only in his red swim-trunks with an inner tube and floaties on him while his trademarked hat and glasses were still on his person, Danny was in a white tank-top and blue trunks, no one daring to speaking about his clear amount of muscles, thanks to Cedric's professional training and guidelines, while Sam hid it all under a black cloak, hat, and veil with sunglasses as Tucker mused in glee. "Man, I love the water. Girls, bathing suits, and the occasional opportunity to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation." He spritzed his mouth with breath refresher as Danny tugged on his tank-top.

"Geez, it's hot. Aren't you sweating, Sam?"

"Regular people sweat. Goths, we simmer." Danny sniffed before he pointed out the overheat, how Sam didn't feel it was interesting.

"I think you're overcooked." She opened up to a purple one-piece as she sniffed herself and exclaimed.

"Wooh! I reek." Tucker didn't help much as he sprayed his breath refresher in her armpit and she scowled before announcing her departure as she covered herself with the cloak. "Yet another reason to get out of the sun." She headed off as two shadows loomed on Danny and Tucker as Dash and Kwan arrived with smirks and water guns in hand.

"Watch our place in line, will ya?"

"How can I? I'm in front of you."

"Not any more!" He blasted the pair with 'water' and somehow launched them into the fountain as the cupid spitting water was now landing its shot on Danny as he mused.

"Well... this is humiliating."

"But oddly refreshing." Tucker pointed out as the pair of them were slightly submerged n the waters as the rest of the party joined them.

Danny was amazed by the sight, but he was more intimidated by the friend who was sporting a minor four pack, wearing a navy-blue pair of swim trunks and bright-yellow hoodie while his eyepiece and bracers were still on somehow. Talia was a wonder as she donned a magenta one-piece with frills across the shoulders and the hips while her long hair was pulled back in a flowing braid. Topaz was just as tomboyish as she wanted, bright red two-piece of top and shorts, her regular ponytail given a pair of rock-star pins to highlight her rebellion. He took the hand of Cedric and was lifted up as he spoke. "You don't have to be so light on the feet, Danny, a simple water blast like that shouldn't just knock you off your feet."

"Tell that to Dash." He rose to his feet as the trio felt their ghost sense go off and he grimaced as he heard Talia's resigned 'Oh, Ancients' and Topaz's aggressive 'Who's the dipstick ruining my pool day'. "Well, that isn't. We've got company, Tuck." No sooner than Danny saying that, a shadow surged across the ground before erupting as Shadow as it started to terrorize everyone as Topaz exclaimed.

"Johnny's Shadow, what the heck is he doing here!?"

"I've got to find a place to go ghost." Danny took off as Tucker called back.

"You do that. And I'll stay here in case any of these girls need mouth-to-mouth." He reapplied the refresher to the trio's collective rub of their temples. Danny made for the restroom, but he was too rash as he entered the ladies restroom and was pushed out of it by Star with Paulina behind her as Star pointed it out.

"Hello! Ladies room."

"I'd tell you to go to the men's room, but I don't think you qualify." They high-fived as Danny just replied.

"Oh sure, joke while a bad-luck ghost is about, see what happens later." He left them alone as he quickly found a map board and jumped behind it before transforming into Phantom and taking flight, to confront the terrorizing ghost as he called out. "Hey, tall, dark, and formless!" Shadow turned to see Danny coming for him. "Remember me?" As it turned out, Shadow did remember as Danny got punched in the gut and then hurled into Terror Mountain before getting pummeled on the ride, pipes and bricks breaking before Shadow pulled him out and roared at him to his reply back. "I'll take that as a... yes?"

Shadow didn't leave much to muse as he dove with Danny, held forward, toward the fence post safety railings before Danny took control of the situation. "Come on, Slick! Let's see how well you mix with water!" Danny pulled Shadow down into the waters and splashed down, Shadow bubbling back up as just a smudge of darkness while Danny, free from the grip, kicked the emergency drain value and just flushed Shadow down as Danny called out. "Enjoy your trip through the sewers! Oh, and if you see Monday's meatloaf, say hi for me!" He was, however, heedless to a third party as he transformed back and leapt over the railing, planning on just going through with his pool day when he suddenly met the teal-blue of Paulina as she exclaimed.

"Danny? You're the Ghost Boy?" Suddenly, his time was going to get much, much worse...

* * *

Danny booked it back to his friends as a news reporter spoke to the camera. "Amity Park wrought today by another random attack by the pasty-faced ghost lad known as 'Inviso-Bill'." Danny paused in confusion before he spoke to his friends who had arrived.

"Guys... we've got a problem."

"I'll say." Sam started as she spoke with confusion on her brow. "'Inviso-Bill'?"

"Yeah, you need a publicist, dude." Tucker shrugged as he continued with a smile as he spotted Star off the corner of his eye. "And you... need mouth-to-mouth."

"Dream on, loser." He frowned as Danny spoke again, the five listening to him.

"It's worse than me being called a different name as I have NEVER said my name in actual public. Paulina saw. She knows I'm half-ghost!"

"Are you sure that she SAW you and just jumped to the belief that you are half-ghost?" Cedric pointed out as Danny spoke up again.

"Well, I finally saw her in a bathing suit, every teen boy's dream, and I can't even enjoy it."

"Because you are both taken and know better, Danny." Talia added as she pointed out. "Besides, what could she do in the end, she is just jumping the cannon from the sound of it."

"It's 'gun', Talia." Cedric corrected as Sam scowled.

"Paulina... I just had a nasty run-in with her in the bathroom." She gripped her fist as she continued. "She's just the rudest, little..." Anymore was lost as Paulina herself called out to them.

"Danny! Sam! Whatever your name is! Hi!" Danny looked spooked about it, but Topaz looked... on the edge with furrowed brow as Talia and Cedric glanced to her with concern before Sam herself cut in front of the rushing Paulina as she made her statement.

"Listen, you! I don't know what you think you saw, but if you do or say anything to hurt Danny...!"

"Oh, don't get your bat wings in a bundle!" The Latina beauty sassed back as she continued, focusing on Danny with a small wave. "Danny... why'd you run?" Danny peered out from behind Sam as she continued. "I know I freaked you out that I discovered your secret, but... I won't tell..." Danny stammered as he asked.

"R-Really?"

"Oh, come on!" Sam and Danny glanced to Tucker as Talia rested a hand on Topaz's shoulder and the rock-star gripped it back as Tucker questioned with furrowed brow. "How can we trust you?"

"You can trust me because... it's my secret now, too." She stooped closer as she tapped Danny's nose. "...Which makes it... OUR secret."

"...Feelings of extreme joy and happiness bubbling up suddenly here."

"Oh, great." Sam huffed as she glanced away from the 'affection' that Paulina was suddenly showing. "Excuse me while I find a nice, dark place to throw up." Sam stomped off as Danny cleared his thoughts and questioned.

"So... you think it's cool that I've got these powers?"

"Cool? No." Paulina turned back as she stated her opinion. "I think it's hot." She headed off as she called out. "See ya!" It took a moment for Danny to register what Paulina just said.

"I'm hot? I'm HOT? I'M HOT!" Sadly, he was blasted with 'water' as Dash mocked him.

"That'll cool you off. By the way, this isn't water, if you catch my drift." Danny glanced down and frowned before a resounding crack was heard and Dash glanced up to find Cedric looking at him like he was the next dummy to break, hand switching and the crack was heard again.

"Baxter, not 'water', you say?"

"N-No, no! It's just a mixture, it's Kool-Aid, it's not just water in here!" Cedric came closer and Dash visibly backed up as Cedric spoke.

"Can I trust the word of a guy in a speedo here?"

"Y-Yes, you can, please, no more punishment!" He yelped, tossing the gun behind him as Talia caught it and, prodding it, spoke.

"Blue raspberry, you're okay right now, Danny." He was helped to his feet as Danny huffed.

"I really should have kept a lid on it..." They nodded and they enjoyed the pool day for the remainder of it...

* * *

The following day, at Casper High, Danny had hidden his face in his shirt that his nose was the limb that was holding it up as he exclaimed in fear. "Is anybody looking at me funny?"

"Yeah, but that's because you look like you're trying to eat your way out of your shirt, lighten up!" Tucker replied as Talia joined in.

"I agree with Foley, you are on edge, ease your mind and everything will be fine."

"How can I lighten up?" The shirt slipped off as Danny exclaimed to them. "Paulina knows I'm half-ghost. I mean, she says she's gonna keep the secret, but how can I trust her? She's a girl, girls can't keep secrets..." Cedric cleared his throat as Talia, Topaz, and Sam glanced at him with crooked brow.

"There are three very lovely girls right here, Danny, I would choose my words carefully if I were you." Danny, just as quickly, corrected himself.

"...Except for you three, you are a lot more different than the gossiping populars." Sam let it go as Topaz chuckled and rubbed Danny's head while Talia kissed Cedric on the cheek, a light shade crossing his face.

"Well, the good news is, Paulina's kind of dim, as long as nothing else weird happens, maybe she'll forget all about it." That was not to be as the ghost senses went off, Talia blushing madly after Cedric said 'toasty' to the close flames. Tucker had gone for a drink from the fountain, but it stopped before releasing a black shadow with green eyes as Sam exclaimed. "So that's where the town sewage goes. I knew it!" She said in a sing-song voice as Shadow bolted past them, Danny ready to fight, before a hand gripped his shoulder and he glanced to Topaz who was scowling.

"Let me handle this one." The people were too panicked to notice as Topaz hid out and transformed, Topaz McLain taking center stage as she soared after Shadow. "You got a lot of nerve popping out from nowhere, Dip NEEDS to lay low." Shadow split in half to Ember's brief surprise before she huffed. "Oh, please, I know how to play that game, and I..." She split down the middle as the halves slammed into each other, stunned before she gripped its tail and hauled it into the science lab as she spoke. "... am not so low on tricks either." She glanced and spotted a magnifying glass before plucking it and heading up, Shadow pursuing before she spoke, the glass behind her. "You want the limelight, okay..." She pushed it in front of her as her other hand glowed a amber yellow. "...Just be careful to not burn out." She blasted and the heat and light tore apart Shadow before she blew on her smoking finger with glee. "Wow, that was awesome, maybe the baby pop has a good idea." She soared back down and transformed back in a locker before opening it, Talia and Cedric smirking to her return as Sam, Danny, and Tucker huffed in relief.

The moment was ruined by another voice. "Great job, Danny." Topaz raised a brow in surprise as Paulina arrived while Danny closed the locker with Topaz out of it.

"Where did you come from?"

"Mr. Fenton, there you are." Mr. Lancer suddenly appeared as he brought up a stack of erasers in hand. "You were due to smack the erasers five minutes ago, where were you?"

"Uh..." Danny looked for an excuse before Cedric cut in.

"Excuse me, aren't those the teacher's lounge erasers, are you telling me that you neglected to tell me about them in the first place?" Lancer was the one to stammer before Paulina cut in.

"He was with me, we've dating now." An ample amount of gasps filled the halls, even the group were in shock at the exclamation, clearly it was too much of a shock as one kid screamed 'NOOOO!' at his Paulina shrine as Danny blinked a few times before getting roped in by Paulina and Lancer spoke in amaze.

"Well, that certainly 'ups' your street cred, Mr. Fenton." Before Lancer could toss the erasers to Tucker, Cedric took them with a glare.

"Give me those, you favoritism-loving vice-principal." Tucker breathed relief as Lancer clearly backed down as well before he spoke, about the new 'couple'.

"You two lovebirds enjoy lunch." Paulina hauled Danny away as Sam was simmering again as Tucker inquired.

"You okay?"

"Of course I am! Why would I not be okay! Look how happy he is!" She growled before throwing a fist into the nearby locker, denting it as the four took a look at it in surprise before Topaz spoke.

"I am usually the one to punch lockers in rage, but that girl has been whipped... hard."

"Something tells me that we have a possible issue on our hands."

"No, Talia, I think what is going to happen is a disaster in the making soon." The scene with Danny and Paulina was strange as Danny was mindful of his food as he spoke.

"I'm really happy you're cool with this, Paulina." He said with leaning on the table as he pointed out. "But everyone kind of staring at us."

"That's because you're with me now." The same kid cried out before booking it out of the room in sorrow as Paulina continued. "And speaking of that, how'd you like to come with me to a bowling party on Friday night?" Danny double-checked the statement before he asked.

"You mean, like a date?"

"Not like a date, A date." Danny's brow frowned as he kept rechecking the statements before it was clear, TOO clear that something else was going on. But he didn't pursue it as Dash had overheard the whole thing and slumped over as he spoke.

"Well, as much as it pains me to say this, Fenton, now that Paulina likes you, you're officially a cool kid."

"Officially? You guys have an actual club about being a cool kid?"

"Not even like a club, A club." The same chat, but with different words as Dash continued to Paulina. "He's kind of dim, isn't he?" Danny narrowed his brow as Paulina just smiled, he knew what a club was, he just never thought he would be in one from the get-go as Dash pulled out a folder from the letter-man jacket. "Here's your membership packet." Danny took it as Dash continued, reaching over to grab one of the geeks in the school. "And this is Mikey, he'll be doing your homework from now on."

"Hi, Danny."

"Don't talk to him, you're nowhere near cool enough." Dash answered as he tossed Mikey and pulled out a slip of paper from the jacket once more, handing it to Danny as he explained it. "And here's your hall pass card, after the hall monitor stamps it ten times, you get a free frozen yogurt." He narrowed his brow as he finished. "Welcome to the A-List, jerk... I mean, pal." Danny smiled as Kwan questioned.

"Fenton's cool now? I thought we didn't have room for new members?"

"Kwan, old pal of mine, I have some bad news." Dash answered as soon, Kwan was left to sit with the five as he spoke.

"I was told I have to sit here now." Tucker put up a front as he exclaimed.

"You'll never take Danny's place! Never!" Sam just looked tired of the whole thing before Cedric huffed and spoke again.

"Well, since you are here, I want to run you through your paces; just because you are not part of the A-List now, doesn't mean that you are not cool anymore." It went on like that as Paulina made Danny her focus and the two bonded like that, Tucker and Sam were unlucky to have Kwan smothering them, but Cedric kept the line as he tested the football player well and showed a more vulnerable side of the jock, he was a math nerd, but often hid it to be cool, but came more freely with the hobby when Cedric gave him the chance to be free.

Danny even showed off some skill in impressing Paulina when he battled the Box Ghost, drawing it out for the interest of it while Kwan wrecked both Sam and Tucker with a football, but Topaz and Cedric gave the guy a run for his money, blowing everyone's mind of HOW multi-talented Cedric was able to be and Topaz's fun of being less girly than most, but it still was a low blow to the two friends of Danny as the trio helped Kwan learn a bit more before Sam asked Tucker as they peered past a wall. "Any sign of 'the Enemy of Fun'?"

"Nope, we are officially Kwan-free, which means I can finally focus on the satellite." Sam followed his gaze to Star as she pointed out.

"Satellite? Her name is Star."

"But she used to be Paulina's 'satellite'." Suddenly, Sam clued in as she replied back.

"Ah, the marginally attractive girl who always orbits around the popular girl."

"But now that Paulina is with Danny, she's like us! Weak, unpopular, and ripe for the picking!" Tucker bolted to catch her, only for her to demand him to be her pack mule, set some guidelines, and WILL break him if he tries holding her hand before the third date as he exclaimed with books and bowling bag in hand. "Sweet! I got a date tonight!"

"If that's your relationship by default, count me out."

"Hey, new best friends." Kwan had arrived as Tucker dismissed them.

"I'll leave you five friends alone. Satellite! I mean, Star! Wait up!" Sam shouted after him.

"Tucker! Don't leave me with...!" But he was gone as she cringed to Kwan's pointing out the visible signs.

"You and Tucker don't like me very much, do you?"

"Who, us? What gave you that idea?" Sam pointed out nervous as Cedric filled in the gaps.

"Let's see; you don't agree with the cool kids, you are cold to anyone who is not your friend or a Goth, and you don't play nice with others, Sam."

"Tucker is easy to converse with, but he is a 'ladies man' through and through, you hardly have given Kwan a chance to be someone unique, Manson."

"And if you keep doing that without giving him or anyone a chance, you are going to be more shallow than Paulina was." Sam grimaced at the valid points as Kwan huffed in remorse about the isolation from the two friends of Danny's.

"It's okay. I know, I don't fit in with you guys and I don't fit in with the popular kids anymore, I guess it's chess club for me." He made to walk off as Sam made a choice, it was not a smart one, but she didn't like how Kwan looked so defeated and Cedric was giving her what could be called 'the judge's eye'.

"Kwan, wait!" He paused as she ran a hand over her face as she continued. "I can't believe I'm asking this." She breathed before she continued. "I'm going to a Goth poetry slam tonight. It might not be your kind of thing, but..."

"Is this like a pity date?" Kwan asked.

"Not a date, but plenty of pity."

"SWEET!" Kwan, just as easily, took Sam's wrist and dragged her along as the night came and Danny was pulled into bowling, Tucker too, but he was just the pack mule for Star as Paulina was clearly failing at bowling and getting laughed at, Danny going over to comfort her when she asked.

"Danny, I am so embarrassing myself. Could you be an angel and give me some... invisible help?" Danny stammered as he pointed out.

"But that's cheating..." Somehow, Paulina's kiss gave him some influence as he lightly exclaimed to her. "...Or creative point scoring! I'll be right back after your strike!" With that, Danny bolted off to go Phantom, pausing a moment to muse. "Why is it that she is suddenly using me for something trivial...?" He shrugged and went under as the next ball rolled, nearly going gutter, but Danny caught it and slammed it into the pins in a 'strike' as Paulina cheered.

"I did it! I did it! I did it!" Danny 'returned' and Paulina praised him. "You're the best, Danny!" Danny chuckled as he mused.

"It's good to be the best." Meanwhile, Sam listened and remarked on Kwan just up and ruined her image at the Shulk and Lurk, but she couldn't find the heart to hate him too badly as he apologize soon after getting them kicked out for 'having a cheerful poem'. Danny met with Paulina outside as she remarked.

"If you like me, kiss me."

"I'm not sure what even, but I'm the luckiest guy in the world here." He moved to kiss back, but his sense went off as he grimaced. "What!?" The rev of a motorcycle hummed closer and the pair glanced down the road as Johnny rode over and stopped in front of them as he exclaimed in a angry tone.

"Listen, punk! You stay away from my girlfriend, dig?"

"Wha...!?" Paulina didn't react like a scared person as she stomped over before getting surrounded by a green aura and toppling backwards to reveal a biker chick with green hair, a red jacket, violet scarf, and ring on her finger that matched Johnny as the ghost that just came out counter-volleyed Johnny.

"Beat it, Johnny! I'm Danny's girl now!" Said Demi caught the collapsing Paulina as he took stock of what was even happening as he exclaimed.

"Kitty? Johnny? Paulina? Oh great! I'm in the middle of a love rectangle!" Johnny and Kitty would have stared down, but Paulina started to stir out of it as Kitty whipped around.

"Whoops!" With that, she phased back into Paulina and the teal turned to red as she spoke. "Now, where were we?" She moved to kiss Danny as he backed up in complete confusion.

"Uh, this is all a big mistake."

"Yep, your last one." He whistled and Shadow came out of the bowling alley, to Tucker's surprise, and found the trio, Danny finally realizing what was happening was something he needed to find out as Shadow was on guard duty, but before he could shout his phrase, another spoke up.

"Star Blast!" A chord rang out and Shadow was blasted as Danny turned to a VERY pissed Topaz McLain with guitar in hand, Talia Rahmat behind her with Iron Exorcist as well as Kitty chuckled nervously with a small wave.

"H-Hey, girlfriend, h-how have you been?"

"Pretty good... considering I am about to roast your behind!" Suddenly, the odds were against Johnny and Shadow, as well as Kitty, as Johnny called it quits.

"Uh, alright! You want her, runt? You can keep her! I'm gone!" Shadow returned and Johnny pressed a button on the bike before he rode into the air and into a green portal that formed as Danny exclaimed.

"He can ride in and out of the Ghost Zone when he wants to now?" Kitty replied as she explained.

"He stole some do-dad from your dad's lab last time he was here, and then he wired it to his bike." She closed the distance as she continued in a flirty manner. "But is that really what you want to talk about, right now?"

"No. We should probably talk about something a little more important."

"I TOTALLY agree..." Both glanced to the sheer white bonfire that was Topaz. "...Especially with the fact that you are running around the Human World and flaunting in the most shallow girl in the..." Sudden, she was doused in a flood of water and paired her now-soaked hair form her face as she glanced to the pair behind her as Exorcist spoke.

"You didn't need to douse her, Talia."

"She was overheating, this can be talked about back at the Fenton lab." The four took flight with Danny carrying Kitty, Cedric taking a moment to ease Tucker back and to let him and Danny deal with a recent development, as the four surrounded Kitty, but it was Danny that was the most upset with her as she apologized.

"Look, Danny, I didn't want to cause you any trouble."

"You're about eight Shadow attacks too late."

"Three!" Topaz shouted as Danny glanced over to her as she was doing well with suppressing her anger, though the metal handle of the bar she was pulling herself up on was showing signs of heating up as Danny focused on Kitty again.

"What's the story?" She sighed as she explained.

"It's like this." She spun the tale out as best as she could. "Ever since Johnny modified his bike so it can come here, I've been nagging at him to take me back and show me around since last time was not so... grand, per say."

"I understand, it can be a bit dull at night with no one around."

"Talia..." Exorcist spoke and she smiled with a shrug as Kitty continued the story.

"The city sights were so exciting and... unfortunately, Johnny was taking in the sights, too, and by sights, I meet every single girl in town."

"He's lucky I didn't roast his butt!" Topaz growled and the bar snapped as she pulled herself up and glanced at the piece of metal before it dropped half-melted and Talia waved a hand, replacing the bar and letting her do some more pull ups to ease her temper. Kitty continued as she finished up the story.

"We ran through a meat van with my intangibility, but it was the last straw and I took off, Johnny must have sent Shadow after me to keep an eye on me and lead him straight to me." She stammered as she was brought to the water park. "I-I remember how much Johnny couldn't stand you so... so you were the perfect person to make him jealous. I was going to overshadow your friend, the spooky chick in black."

"Sam..." Danny answered, but paused to the smirk that crossed her lips.

"You like her, don't you?" Danny made to stammer before he ran a hand over his face and answered.

"Yes, I do like her..."

"She was the first part of that blasted concert that won against me and..." The bar broke again and Topaz huffed as she spoke. "Never-mind the pull up, I am too heated to even care right now."

"Wait, Danny won against you?" Kitty questioned as she continued with a pointing finger in confusion. "I thought you said no duets."

"Hard to do that when they hit my concert with a triple song hit and in a blimp that is just protected." Kitty didn't push it as Talia tended to the exhausted Topaz as she explained how she got into Paulina.

"Instead, I ended up in this body when she was forced out and this chick was in her place, go fig!" She shrugged with a smile as she continued. "But the good news is, Johnny's furious, I'm pretty, you're popular, everybody wins."

"Except Paulina." Danny pointed out as he spoke. "You realize you're going to have to stop this, right?" Kitty hummed before she spoke back.

"Maybe..." She spoke in Paulina's voice as she continued. "...Or maybe 'Paulina' might slip up and tell the whole town that Danny Fenton is the ghost boy." Danny was shocked before he retorted.

"it's Inviso-Bill to the people, and that is blackmail, Kitty, can't it just be a peaceful agreement?"

"Well, I could toast her." Topaz answered as her fist lit up and Kitty sweated in fear before Exorcist stopped her and spoke.

"No time for third-degree burns, I'm more interested in the device that Johnny took that allows him in and out of the Zone." He turned and questioned. "Kitty, what did the device look like?"

"A... silver box-like thing, sizable to the handlebars of a bike, why?"

"I don't like the sound of that..." The Iron Exorcist trudged over to the cabinet and the group joined around him as he searched through the records before he exclaimed, pulling one of the folders out. "Ah-ha, here it is, a Ecto Portal-Adapter, we lost one of them after Johnny Thirteen came through, but it was defective, that is bad."

"What is the bad news of a defective model here, Exorcist?" Danny asked as the visor-hidden eyes looked to Danny.

"A defective model can go for some time, but it can't hold out, all tests with them have concluded that the Adapter will drain the ectoplasm right out of our Fenton Bazookas faster than average, rendering it unusable, but if it was attached to a ectoplasmic construct..."

"It could drain the ghost..." Danny wore a worried look as he questioned quickly. "How much time do we got!?"

"Two days, tops." The folder closed and shelved back as Exorcist turned to the possessed Paulina. "We need to destroy that device before it actually kills your 'boyfriend' completely, Kitty, blackmailing Danny may be your plan, but we have to think of the facts..." Kitty huffed as she seemed to acknowledge the possibility.

"Okay... okay, I understand, but still, see you at lunch tomorrow, boyfriend." With that, she headed out as Danny landed and spoke.

"She doesn't believe us..."

"I don't expect her to just agree off the bat, but we have to take measures to be sure..."

* * *

The following day soon saw Sam being given an apology from Kwan as he spoke. "Sam, are you sure you're not miffed about the poetry thing last night? Because you seemed pretty miffed."

"Why would I be miffed? Just because I can't sit at my regular table..." Danny sat there while 'Paulina' beamed at him as Sam gripped a napkin container and crushed it. "And now I can't go to my favorite book store anymore..."

"So... we're cool then..." Sam breathed as she spoke.

"I'll get back to you on that in a while." She stood up and headed over to Tucker as she greeted him, Star and Kwan conversing on their own. "Tucker, hey!"

"Oh, hey, Sam." Tucker turned to continued the chat. "So how are you getting along with Kwan?"

"Great." Sam lied as he returned inquiry. "So how are things with Star?"

"Couldn't be better." Both were lying through their teeth before bursting into rant.

"He's/She's driving me crazy!" They fell into a tandem of mistakes that both made with their equally troubling partner before exclaiming to each other. "You're gotta help me!" Both paused before laughing before Tucker took over again.

"Seriously, Sam, Kwan and Star are stuck to us like gum on the bottom of the desk. We have to lose them." Same sighed as she agreed with a remorseful tone.

"I don't see how. I have the feeling we're tied to these two losers until..." She cut off as Star spoke up.

"Sam, Tucker." Both turned to see the two of them holding hands, the need for crosses was real for the two of them as Kwan spoke.

"Star and I were just talking and we decided that we might be less cool than Danny and Paulina, but we're way cooler than you two."

"Tucker, I hope we can still be friends."

"One, thank you for telling us about this change in popularity." Sam spoke with Tucker handing the tray of food to Kwan who was surprised as the tech-geek spoke in following.

"Two, we respect your choice and will leave you both to it."

"Lastly, we needed this break, so thank you deeply!" Both bolted out of Nasty Burger to the two's surprise before Star mused.

"That was easy."

"They're in denial, I learned about that at the book store." Far from the Nasty Burger, Tucker and Sam conversed.

"That was easy. Now everything is back to normal."

"Almost." Sam grimaced as she pointed out one problem with getting back to normal. "We still don't have Danny, who's having a wonderful time with Paulina, I'm sure." She hissed as she ripped the flag off a mailbox, but when they met back up with him, he voiced his total defeat at Casper.

"I'm losing my mind! I mean, Paulina's fairly high maintenance!"

"Really? I hadn't notice." Sam huffed as Tucker joined in as Danny had explained what was going down.

"Yeah, but worse, she's being controlled by a ghost with a crush on Danny!" He was in awe of that fact as Sam corrected him while the trio conversed, Cedric fine-tuning a device while Talia and Topaz talked about the latest trends in style and appearance and brief powers.

"Tucker, Kitty doesn't have a crush on Danny. She's using him to make Johnny jealous." She glanced over to the Fenton as she explained. "I've got an idea about how you can get rid of her, but it's kind of radical."

"Considering your earlier radical actions, Sam, how radical?" Any more was cut off as Paulina called out.

"DANNY! Has anybody seen my Danny?" Said person went invisible as he glanced over to Sam.

"Radical is good. Let's hear it." Soon, they had the plan to go into the Ghost Zone and get Johnny to fight Danny over Kitty and him being brutal about it in the fake fight, but they missed the trio's conversation as Talia and Topaz asked Cedric.

"So, do you think that they can manage it?"

"Yeah, not to point out the weak points in dark gloom over there, but Kitty is possessive over Johnny and may take it further without warning."

"Considering we need to split the two from the real world for a while, I think that we can't interfere too much, but we can explain the whole thing to Johnny and Kitty, once she is on the Ghost Zone end and willing to hear us out."

"Or you could just give them Demi forms and move on from there."

"I could, but I want to give them the opinion, you were unconscious and slightly sedated from how much Talia remarked on your loopy tangent."

"TALIA!" Topaz glimmered as the Genie Demi just beamed. The original trio headed to Fenton Works soon after and waited for a moment in first of the Ghost Portal before Danny breathed in Phantom form.

"Well, here goes nothing. I hope you're right about this, Sam." He went into the Portal as Tucker called out.

"Good luck, dude."

"Remember, Danny, be cool, play it close to the vest." Sadly, Sam's advise was in vain as Danny had a different response to meeting up with Johnny...

* * *

It took some time to find the biker ghost, but Danny did find him and didn't play it close to the vest. "You have got to take Kitty back!" He was letting out all the stress that keeping Kitty under check as he gripped Johnny's jacket in plead. "She is suffocating me, I need my space, YOU GOTTA HELP ME!"

"Okay, okay...!" Johnny breathed as he got Danny to release the jacket as he pointed out. "But you know, you might have wanted to play that a little close to the vest."

"I am not okay with the setup, she blackmailed me for my secret and will tell it to the town if I didn't." Johnny raised a brow as he asked.

"Shouldn't they already know that you are you?"

"If they did, why am I called 'Inviso-Bill'?" Johnny opened his mouth a few times before shrugging, the plan made as Danny, after arranging the details, headed out in explaining what was going to happen with Sam and Tucker as the following afternoon had Danny 'taking' Kitty out on a picnic date as she remarked.

"Oh, Danny, this is so romantic!" Putting on a fake smile, he replied to the comment.

"Anything for you. You were worth fighting Johnny for."

"Ah, that's sweet!" Danny continued to the plan he had made, even going through the motions of some fighting stance to get the point across.

"And you know what? I'd kick his butt a hundred times more and a hundred times harder if he ever shows his sorry face again!" Honestly, it is all bravado, but it worked as Johnny entered the chat.

"Oh, is that right?" Both turned in surprise as Johnny had arrived quietly atop his chopper as he 'glared' down to the pair as Kitty exclaimed.

"Johnny!?"

"Hey, doll." Johnny replied as he got off and looked ready for a brawl. "I came to get you back, by force if necessary." He finished as he stood over Danny who 'glared' back before he jumped into action.

"Bring it on, punk!" He turned Phantom and went close to dodge Johnny's sluggish punches before he recoiled to a solid straight into his chest, huffing a bit before he grinned. "My turn!" He threw a punch back and slammed Johnny in the nose as he yelped, holding the attacked part before glaring with leaning close.

"I thought this was a pretend fight..."

"Then pretend that didn't hurt, like your surprise jab!" He delivered an uppercut and knocked Johnny in the air before the biker shook off the surprise before charging down with a green aura, Danny dodging just fine to the increased movement of his foe before phasing past a swing and backhanding Johnny's head, causing the biker to turn in anger as Kitty cried out.

"Be careful, Danny!" She whispered the last bit with a tear of 'Don't hurt Johnny too bad', but the fight just went on as Danny flipped out of a tackle before giving the boot to Johnny, toppling him to the ground to another whisper of 'Oh, not the face!' Johnny landed with Danny standing with foot on him as he commented.

"Looks like you beat me again, dude!"

"That I did, now to see about a crazy idea of mine." He generated energy into his palm as he exclaimed. "See you in Oblivion, Johnny!" With that, Johnny had some parting words.

"So long, Kitty. I'll miss you..." He braced himself for the blast if Kitty didn't have the will to save her real man...

...But she did as she cried out. "NOOOO!" She phased out of Paulina and charged, Danny glancing for a moment before he was rammed off of Johnny and dug up a line, dirt in his mouth as he whipped about to Kitty's exclaim. "Don't you dare harm one greasy hair on Johnny's head!" She missed the 'Greasy!?' exclaim from Johnny as she ranted on. "I love him! You know that, right? I love you?" Johnny reciprocated those feelings as he replied back.

"I love you too, baby cakes." Kitty pulled him up before hugging him, the happy look fading as she stomped to stand between Danny and Johnny as she ranted in protection.

"And anybody who tried to hurt my Johnny has to deal with me!" Her eyes flashed as Danny, having spat out of the dirt during the short event, replied back as he went on the defensive of apology.

"Hey, I don't wanna get between you two." He continued to explain. "Kitty, you're a great girl, but I am nowhere near as cool as Johnny. And you two are obviously made for each other." Kitty beamed as Johnny raised a thumb in thanks as Kitty spoke again.

"Well, he's right. We were made for each other."

"You, uh... want to finish this conversation back home?" She nodded lovingly and they got on the bike before riding, the portal opening as Danny followed, heedless of the third party that soon arrived to the area as Danny remarked.

"Just to make sure you can't come back..." The energy formed once more and he launched it into the device, busting it as Johnny exclaimed in surprise.

"What!? Hey, man! That wasn't part of the deal!" Johnny yelled in getting off before Kitty asked in surprise.

"Deal!? What deal!?"

"Ah crud..."

"Should have played 'that' a little closer to the vest." Danny said as he bolted back out and helped the recovering Paulina to her feet as he asked. "Uh, hi. Do you know who I am, by any chance?" Paulina replied in glee as she spoke.

"Sure. You're that ghost boy who saved my life... twice, apparently. Inviso-Bill, right?" The glee of not being exposed turned to a frown as Danny exclaimed.

"Ugh, I need a publicist..." He took flight, leaving Paulina to 'fantasize' her crush, while in the Zone, Kitty was recovering from the confusion to yell at Johnny for making some sort of deal with Danny before a loud clearing of the throat echoed out.

"If I could... interject." The pair turned to find Topaz, Talia, and Cedric close by as Johnny questioned.

"How did you...?"

"Went through the Fenton Portal, took a bit to track you down, Thirteen." Cedric answered as he came closer, looking over the biker before he turned to his companions. "His energy is stabilizing now, he'll be okay in the near future."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Johnny waved his hands as he exclaimed. "Okay!? What does that mean!?"

"I thought you were bluffing about that whole 'defective model draining ghost' thing!" Kitty yelped as Cedric shook his head as he spoke.

"I don't bluff when it could turn serious, a defective Portal-Adapter could easily sentence your boyfriend to Oblivion itself if not treated right, we were lucky..." He spoke as the display from the earpiece showed Johnny's ecto levels and marking them as a percent below sixty percent, but was climbing back up. "You are currently at sixty percent, Johnny, a bit longer and you can kiss both your existence and power goodbye for a solid month." Both grimaced as Topaz huffed as she spoke.

"That being said..." Flames erupted from her palm as she shouted. "IT'S PAYBACK TIME, GIRLFRIEND!" Kitty yelped as she took off with Topaz behind her, Talia and Cedric watching it happen with Johnny as Kitty pleaded in vain to Topaz's rage before he asked.

"So... I can't just take my girl out as freely as I want..."

"Not... exactly..." Talia worded as Johnny raised a brow as she continued on. "There is a way, but that would change your own being in a way that you may not be expecting..."

"Uh... I am not sure I like the sound of that, but shoot, I got nothing much to lose here..."

"Trust me..." Cedric smiled and a chill ran down the biker's spine. "There are much worse things to fear from me than what I have in mind..."

* * *

The following day saw Paulina having decorated her locker in the memorabilia of Danny in his Phantom form as 'Inviso-Bill' as she kissed a picture of him, slammed the door shut on her locker, and just beamed as she sighed before making to walk away, not noticing the trio before Danny opened his mouth. "Hey, Paulina." She glimmered back as she remarked.

"Why are you even talking to me?" She walked away as the heart-broken kid yelped in joy before Danny turned to his friends.

"Can you believe that, Paulina's still in love, but with the ghost me."

"Welcome back to the fold, fellow loser." Sam commented as Kwan walked over with Star and Dash as he exclaimed.

"Hey Fenton! I'll be needing that cool kid membership package back!" Dash took over as he remarked.

"Better yet, we'll beat it out of ya after school, Fen-turd!"

"Move along, Dash..." The football players flinched as Cedric spoke and eyed them with careful preparation. "You don't want me to go postal on your hide, he'll have it back to you before long, so scram... unless there is more business I need to contend with." A brow raised and they backed off just as easily as Danny mused.

"Ah well, I have to say, it's good to be back among friends." Danny paused before he continued. "But the popularity sure was nice while it lasted."

"I'll bet!" Tucker beamed before he grew a bit depressed. "But you know the really rotten thing is?" With that, Tucker dashed over to go through the pack of Danny before pulling out the hall pass, one mark remaining to be stamped. "You were only one hall pass punch away from that free frozen yogurt." He waved to Mikey who was coming down the hall. "Hey, Mikey."

"Don't talk to me, you're not nearly cool enough." Mikey respond without even looking at them, Cedric chuckling a bit at how the tables have, just as swiftly, turned, the hand switched from the cool to the uncool as Tucker was left surprised while Sam and Danny held hands and the trio just gave them a thumbs up in approval as they went on, the membership package returned just as nicely, though Kwan now had a new-found interest in finding out what Cedric was hiding from his time with the skilled and imposing member of the school...


	18. S1 - Life Lessons

The day of Amity Park started once more for the school going crowd, though most were confined in the few buses that drove them to the schools, one going to Casper High stuffed to the brim, but one student was not so troubled by that as he flew on high up with a remark. "One good thing about ghost powers: No fighting the school bus crowds." Sadly, he was not so trouble-less as he believed as another presence made himself known from atop a roof, its metal body and flaming green telling enough as he spoke with lowering the binoculars.

"There he is, the prey that got away. I hope you've enjoyed your freedom, child, because Skulker has returned to finish the hunt." A blaster emerged from his shoulder and he primed to fire on Danny before another weapon discharged, launching Danny into the nearby water tank to Skulker's surprise. "What? A weapon was fired? By someone other than me?" A jet sound came from behind and whizzed past as a red-and-grey blur before hovering down to a soaked Danny, the Huntress primed with a gun in hand as she mused.

"It's time for your daily chase, Phantom, I told you that I would make you go running someday." She fired and Danny quickly dodged as he yelped.

"Easy, Huntress, that could be called collateral damage!"

"It's fine, that thing wasn't even hooked up right!" Val zoomed away from the toppling tank when she hit the supports and the two feuded in the air, heedless to Skulker's observing as he mused.

"They both seem formidable. Maybe I should hunt the girl." Val was blasted away, her board rather tanky to the ecto-blast blast as Skulker continued. "Of course, I have sworn a blood oath to have that ghost boy's pelt on my wall." Danny was blasted away as Skulker followed suit as Danny called out, having knocked the first gun out of Val's hands.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you!"

"What makes you think you really can!" She quickly pulled out another gun from her pack that expanded out before firing, Danny dodging with getting the blast to slip through a hole that he formed before blasting Valerie upward in a two-fisted ecto-blast with him in pursuit as Skulker made his choice while floating invisibly.

"I should force a contest between the hunter girl and the ghost boy. And to the winner, the honor of me using their skull as a tetherball!" Valerie came to rest a few feet in the air with Danny joining, he priming one final blast to stop his rival from going any further in her beaten state of a battle suit, but paused when a bell rang and both looked down, to find Casper high as Valerie exclaimed, a smirk behind the mask.

"Later for you, Phantom!" Danny smiled back.

"I'll be waiting, Huntress!" Both sped off in opposite directions as Skulker confirmed who was within the suit that folded into her bracelets and shoes before booking it into the school, Danny finding a restroom and changing back to Fenton as he dashed out just the same before they ran for it to their class, both realizing too late their course as they slammed into each other and Valerie recovered to sass Danny in front of Health Sciences.

"Watch it, punk!"

"You watch it, creep!" Both paused before pointing at each other.

"Didn't we just have this conversation earlier?" Outside the school, they were rivals, but in school, they were Danny Fenton and Valerie Grey, two teens that can't really stand each other for longer than a minute as the door opened and Tetslaff exclaimed to their heads whipping toward her.

"Fenton! Gray! Congratulations! You two stragglers are paired up for a special Health Sciences project." They glanced to each other before back as Tetslaff reached inside to pull something out. "I now pronounce you man, wife, and child." She tossed a flour sack wearing a diaper to the pair of them, both holding it before Danny moaned in disbelief.

"I am _so_ not kissing the bride!"

"What makes you think you can!" Both mused 'We certainly had that conversation before' as their project was soon going to be used against them in what Lancer would call 'the Most Dangerous Game'...

* * *

At least they were not alone in taking care of a flour sack baby, but Danny didn't abandon the sack to Valerie as he met up with Sam and Tucker, taking care of their own while Valerie followed a short distance. "Let me get this straight: We need to take care of a flour sack and pretend it's our baby?" Tucker added to it as he confirmed it.

"It's supposed to be something about shared responsibility." Sadly, that couldn't be said for the rest of the school as Dash primed his assignment like a football.

"Kwan! Go long!" He threw it to Kwan, he ran like he was going for the goal as Tucker finished.

"Well, some of us."

"The only thing it teaches me is how pointless this assignment is." Danny glanced to Valerie as she glanced back.

"Not to mention dangerous. Now I've got to spend a week playing house with a ecto-hating rival."

"Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"I know, but no one else does." Valerie raised a finger before nodding as Sam spoke.

"Don't worry, Danny. Valerie wouldn't tell your secret, and as far as you go about it, you won't tell hers." She made to walk away with Tucker, Valerie, and Danny quickly catching up as Tucker just started to singing softly.

"Besides, she can't be gunning for you if she's taking care of your little floury sack of love!" He did so while hugging the flour sack. "Danny, Val and baby sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S—HEY!" Valerie had snatched the beret before stuffing it into Tucker's mouth, speaking with a look of disapproval.

"You dropped your hat." He spat it out into his hand as Tucker huffed.

"Come on, Sam! Our child doesn't need to see this kind of negativity." He soon left with that trail of speech as Sam exclaimed after him.

"What?!" She went after him as she shouted. "Tucker! It's a flour sack!" This left Valerie and Danny alone as Valerie breathed with a hand to her face and spoke.

"I'll make things quick for both of us, Danny! I don't like you, and you don't like me!" Danny huffed back to follow the trail of speech she had while still holding the sack.

"Cool! I'm glad we worked that out fairly quickly, actually!"

"So, I took the time to chart out our responsibilities." Danny leaned in to the mostly blue circle of his time with a small piece for Valerie of their 'baby care' as he spoke.

"And by 'our', you mean 'mine'. Also, when did you make this?"

"Look. Unlike you, _I'm_ busy. So busy my grades are in the toilet... if I wasn't getting tutoring from you guys and I really need to pass this class. Also, don't question my skills." The flour sack would have started to cry if Danny wasn't carrying it in the first place and cradling it as Danny spoke again.

"So what...? You get to be 'Miss Worker' and I have to be a stay-at-home father?"

"Yeeeess...?" Valerie tensed on the meaning as Danny raised a brow, searching the halls for a brief moment before he inquired.

"You mean to tell me that you have a job, besides ghost hunting?"

"Well, um..." She mumbled as Danny turned with surprise.

"First hours into this assignment and you are already keeping secrets from your spouse, shame on you, SHAME!" Danny moved away as Valerie looked heartbroken on the manner for some reason before slinging her pack on and walking away.

* * *

Later at the Nasty Burger, the sack had started to cry and, while Danny was successful in keeping it calm for the most part, he just can't for very long as he spoke to his friends, Talia and Cedric nowhere in sight yet and Topaz was getting some home-schooling in. "I've been a parent all of one day and my grade is probably already down to a C-minus."

"Life could be worse. You could be that guy." 'That guy' was Nasty Nat, mascot for Nasty Burger, who was currently being tormented by four terrible boys before Tucker exclaimed.

"Oooh! Nasty Nat! Let's get a family photo with him." Somehow, Tucker pushed the three of them toward Nasty Nat, the boys running away as Sam exclaimed.

"Taking this way too seriously!" They were not so alone as Skulker observed from the rooftop before he went into a monologue for a plan.

"Hmm. Going to need the right bait to lure those two back to battle." He turned to a cage materializing from the air as he went through his options. "Too scaly; too frightening; you I plan on feasting on for dinner—Yes!" He reached in and pulled out the Box Ghost who he caught on a brief moment. "You'll do."

"I AM THE BOX GHOST. I—" Any more was lost when he was gagged and Skulker pulled out a fishing line. Danny took a few pictures for Sam and Tucker with Nasty Nat while the flour sack just cried, he just puzzled as to how well the project needed to be soothed before Tucker asked.

"You want me to take one of you? Family photos boost your grade."

"That would require having the whole family. But sadly, Mommy is too busy with her 'unknown' job to pull her weight here and help keep this kid quiet!" Both Sam and Tucker jumped to the defense of their sack.

"Danny! You're scaring the baby!" Tucker beamed as Sam quickly corrected herself.

"Which that is not; that's a flour sack." The sack seemed to fart and Danny checked to get a face full of green gas as he exclaimed.

"Oh come on!"

"Just be thankful it's only flour."

"Then why does it smell like beans?" Danny moaned as Tucker walked over as he spoke.

"It's the little touches that bring the baby to life. Here. Allow me." He took the sack off Danny's hands before dropping his backpack which suddenly turned into a changing table to the surprise of both as Danny inquired from his shock.

"Where'd you get all this stuff?"

"I announced the birth of our ten-pound sack of joy on the internet. The online geek community can be very generous." Unbeknownst to them, the Box Ghost was being bobbed from the rooftop, Danny's ghost sense finally kicking in as he turned to find the Box Ghost dangling from some fishing line, gagged before he spat it out and exclaimed.

"Beware!" He was pulled back up as the customers inside finally realized that it was a ghost that was being bobbed and started to panic as Danny exclaimed.

"Ah man! Can you watch the kid for me?"

"What do I look like? A baby-sitting service?" Money said otherwise as Danny handed a five dollar to Tucker and his tone changed. "Come to Uncle Tucker and his baby-sitting service." Danny made to run to the back of the Nasty Burger, away from the crowd, but stopped short as Nasty Nat was there too and he had nearly ran into him... or her from the sound of the voice.

"Sorry, I was... hiding out here, be careful next time." Nasty Nat hurried away as Danny called out.

"Yeah... sorry about that." He breathed as he spoke. "Well, at least we have some manners, this week could have been filled with jerks." He transformed into Phantom and took flight as he looked around.

"Now where's that lame-o Box Ghost?" His muse stopped when Valerie appeared in her suit as she retorted back.

"Only lame-o ghost I see here is you!" She aimed at him and fired a rocket, blasting him into the drive-through Nasty Nat robot as it spoke in a monotone voice, head bobbing from the slam.

"Welcome to Nasty Burger. May I take your order?" Danny got up before retorting.

"Too neutral sounding, bad for actual business." He blasted it, finishing its destruction, before glancing to the flying Valerie. "Oh, she's too busy to watch the kid, but when it comes time to kick my butt, she's front-and-center?" He flew after her as he exclaimed. "Don't you have anything better to do than just hunting ghosts?" He fired a few shots, but her dodging skill had greatly improved as she wheeled about before aiming at him again.

"This is what I do!" She fired and knocked Danny out of the air while Skulker watched.

"At last! People hitting people. Is there anything more beautiful?" Danny got back in the air and fired a few more blasts, but Valerie dodged and fired at the soaring Danny with rockets, he turning intangible, but the volley riddled the ground and also got the Nasty Burger signpost, where Tucker was conveniently standing under, but instead of running when the post started to fall, he exclaimed.

"My baby!"

"Tucker!" He soared down and gripped Tucker by the shoulder, turning both intangible as the sign crashed and shattered to pieces as Tucker spoke in thanks.

"Thanks! But this is gonna cost you extra."

"You can bill me later. Right now, I've gotta stop this fight before anyone gets hurt." He turned invisible before bolting for a pair of parked SUVs, turning back to Fenton as Valerie flew overhead, Danny pausing as he spotted something and picked it up. "Nasty Nat? Where is the owner of the suit?" Valerie, peering about with some binoculars, found no Phantom, but Danny was by the suit as she grimaced behind the suit's mask, but she just monologued.

"No ghost kid now. I better get out of here before this gets any worse for either of us."

"Oh, this is ridiculous. I could have skinned them both by now." Skulker growled as he watched Valerie take off with Danny walking back over to his friends, Tucker yelling at him as the sack was returned.

"I ought to bust you for child endangerment." He then cuddled with his own sack in glee. "There, there now. Daddy's here. Daddy loves you, yes, he does."

"Uh, Tucker... Point of information, it's a sack of white powder you almost got killed over!" Sam spoke as she stole the sack away, but she didn't keep the angry vibe on as she lovingly looked at the sack and cleaned it up a bit as Tucker spoke again to Danny, both unnerved with Sam's sudden affection to a sack of flour.

"I'm gonna have to charge you extra, Danny. Hazard pay, and all." Danny huffed as he slapped another five dollar into the geek's hand.

"Fine. Whatever. Right now I just want to find Valerie and give her our kid. And a piece of my mind!" He frowned before breathing and turning to leave, this time running into Nasty Nat before he spoke. "Could you please move, I need to talk to someone." He lightly walked past Nasty Nat and the mascot had its arms hang low before walking off, Tucker looking at the dollar before a commotion was going on.

"I can't carry this thing during football practice!" Paulina sassed back as they were in their sports attire of football player and cheerleader.

"Hello? You have protective padding. All I are have are pom-poms." Somehow, Tucker found his mission as he greeted the pair.

"Hi. I couldn't help overhearing you, and I think I have the solution to your child-care dilemma." Meanwhile, in Elmerton, Valerie was going through her paces, evidence of both Phantom being guilty and innocent littering her room with weapons, samples, and even a makeshift wanted poster as she was performing chin-ups on a piece of pipe that hung from her ceiling as she panted, knowing the truth, but still liking the idea of a rival.

"You can run for now, Phantom, but you can't hide forever." Sadly, her training was cut short to persistent knocking as Danny was outside her apartment as he called out.

"Valerie? It's Danny. And Junior." Valerie rushed over and Danny shoved the sack over to her when she opened the door. "You're taking the kid. Now."

"But! M-My job...!" Danny glared at her as he spoke.

"All I know is that it is your turn, and since I don't know what your job actually is, I can't find it in my heart to care, Valerie. You set it up, Grey..." She quietly kicked a gun out of sight as Danny continued. "...Now you NEED to live with it." He paused before he breathed again. "Look, we are partners here, I can't just watch over a sack of flour forever, you are expected to take care of it too."

"I..." Valerie sighed as she spoke. "I-I understand, Danny, sorry for putting you under the bus, but I need a good grade, if I don't succeed in Tetslaff's class, my dad will kill me!" The sack rumbled before farting in her face as Danny spoke.

"I realize that, we have helped you greatly through the classes, but just this once, you need to help out and first part of that is changing that diaper, I'll be back to pick up the kid so I wouldn't be gone for long, Val." He headed off as Valerie nodded and headed back into the apartment, both heedless to the hunter who was scoping out the object in question as he mused.

"Clearly the sack is very valuable to both of them. Which gives me an idea..." He turned invisible and headed over, Valerie making the mistake of holding the sack up before it was snatched out of her hands, arming herself at the possible ghost that just stole the assignment, Danny cluing in as quickly as Skulker emerged with sack in hand.

"Skulker!" He quickly changed to Phantom as he continued. "What are you doing?"

"Framing you." He then yelled at the sack, ignoring the 'Skulker, no!' from Danny before tossing it, crying, to the hero before taking off upwards as Valerie emerged from her apartment as she shouted in her Huntress suit.

"Hand over the sack, ghost, and nobody gets hurt!"

"Wait! It's not what you think!" But she didn't allow anything to be said as she fired, Danny dodging before phasing out of the apartment, soaring far with Valerie, taking the window in flying out on her board, was in hot pursuit as Danny called out with flour sack in front of him. "You don't understand. This is all a trick. By a ghost named Skulker."

"Skulker?" Valerie mused as her weapon said otherwise. "What is going on, but first..."

"Okay..." Danny flew on down and landed as Valerie flew down too before Danny turned and continued. "Look, see? I'm putting the sack down, right here." He slowly put the sack on the ground as he calmly told Valerie the state. "You don't want to hurt me, and you don't want to hurt this, right?" Valerie cocked the weapon for it to return to its usual appearance as Valerie asked.

"Hard to believe that right now, but I know you, Danny, you are honest to a fault, this is not a trap on your part, I know you too well now, you are not my enemy, but my friend and rival." Danny beamed as he returned.

"Thanks, now we need..." Far on the rooftop, Skulker scoped it out with dismay as he exclaimed.

"No hitting? Why is there no hitting? I'm changing the rules of this hunt!" He pressed a button on his wrist as strange electro-prod emerged from the ground and Valerie exclaimed in surprise.

"How did we even...! It's a trap!"

"Well, it was not my doing, it's...!" Both were shocked and fell unconscious...

* * *

Danny stirred from the shock treatment to find that the sky was dark green with violet specks dotting it and the Red Huntress was right beside him before he pulled himself up with Valerie groaning as well before he raised a hand to rub his head, but stopped short to find that his left and her right were handcuffed together before Skulker made his presence known. "Greetings, prey. Having failed to determine which one of you is the superior challenge, I've decided to hunt you both _at the same time!"_ He laughed madly as they were stuck on his jungle island, but a few seconds finally got something out of Valerie as she... screamed in fear with both of the prey standing up.

"AAAH! UHHH! HELP! What is this place?! Who's he?! What's going on here?!" She did so with surprising adrenaline of swinging Danny around and flinging him in her panic of gesturing everywhere before Danny pulled himself up and answered, being a little more gentle than how she just treated him.

"Okay, in order: This is the Ghost Zone; that's Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter; and other than you dislocating my shoulder, we're about to be hunted like animals." Valerie gasped as the ghost in front of her suddenly was adorned in more weapons than she cared to actually believe, like he was a robot or something.

"I'm offering you a sporting head start, prey. I suggest you take it."

"NOOOOOOOO!" The pair of them booked it away as Danny shouted.

"Less freaking! More running!" They ducked under a net and jumped over a bolas before Danny tried to fire back, but nothing as he glanced to their handcuffs and realized what was happening. "Oh, man! These handcuffs must cancel out all of my ghost powers! I'm as helpless as an animal here!" They came to a stop when Valerie spotted one of her weapons.

"My ecto-grenade launcher!"

"No! Don't! It might be—" The warning came too late when she grabbed and pulled, the weapon tied to a blue rope before a tree compartment opened and fired many darts at them, both dropping to the ground before the volley stopped and Danny breathed. "Booby trapped. See, that's why I took the time to explain the whole 'Ghost Zone's greatest hunter' thing, though we can talk later." Both heard the roar of Skulker as Valerie got up as she exclaimed.

"Get up! He's coming!" Sadly, that was in vain as both noticed a dart sticking out of Danny's butt as he exclaimed.

"I... can't... move." He dropped short as Skulker arrived with a smile.

"Spectral paralysis dart. The effects are only temporary. But this will not be." He pulled off a large two-handed gun from his shoulder before Valerie started to haul out of there, Danny slamming into several rocks as Valerie, just as easily, pulled them along as he mused.

"Well, on the bright side, she's finally starting to pull her own weight." On the other side of the dimensions, Tucker was somehow running the most successful 'flour baby day care' to date as he was answering a few phones at a time.

"Flour Power Day Care, please hold. Flour Power Day Care, please hold, Flour Power Day Care. Yes, we do accept your parents' credit cards." He lowered the phones from his ears before speaking to Sam. "This baby sitting racket is a real gold mine!" Sam voiced otherwise.

"That's great, but aren't you worried our own sack might get neglected?" The sack in question toppled as Tucker answered as he was just dialing the PDA in hand.

"No. Why?" Sam quickly picked up the sack and cradled it as she spoke.

"Well, you're just so busy, why don't I just take her off your hands for a few hours?"

"Her?" Tucker spoke up as he glanced to the Goth mothering over a sack of flour. "Now who's taking this way too seriously!" He took it from her as he pointed out. "You're bonding, aren't you?"

"What? No! I am so not bonding. I just thought I'd give you a break, that's all." She smiled weakly as Tucker replied back.

"Well, thanks, but no thanks." He brought up a phone as he replied to more people. "No better advertisement for business than a full caravan." Sam mused in following as she dismissed it.

"You're right, it's just a stupid school project. What do I care?" Tucker, on the other hand, was oblivious to the growing plan of Sam's while Valerie screamed in exiting some brush while Skulker was in pursuit still as the paralysis started to wear off on Danny as he slowly gripped a fist before both came to a stop at the edge of the island and looking down to the abyss of green, Skulker exclaiming with gun out.

"No way out, whelps!" Valerie said otherwise.

"There is one way out!" Knowing the meaning, Danny moved to say otherwise.

"What?! No! Listen to me!" But she didn't listen as she flung herself with Danny downwards with Skulker peering over as well before she straightened and clicked her boots, the hover board coming alive as it stopped their fall and she sped off on the board with Danny on the back of it as she exclaimed.

"He might have got my weapons, but he didn't get everything!"

"Except for the missiles and guns on the board, Val, how does that even work?"

"Uh... I have no idea, really, I should have listened to Cedric about that." They didn't waste too much time as Skulker took flight after them before Danny pulled himself up fully and stabilized with her soaring.

"Could you slow down for a moment? This is the Ghost Zone, and we have been trying to chart it for some time. I can help us both here."

"Why should I trust you on that idea?!" Danny pointed at the cuffs as he mused back

"It's Cedric's idea to chart the place, I can only make drawings of places, not actual directions."

"Fine. I'm open to suggestions."

"Head for a door. Any door! Sometimes they're portals between the Ghost Zone and Earth." Valerie quickly stopped in front of one and opened it to a old-style locomotive charging right for them as it erupted into a mouth of jagged teeth and flames as Danny exclaimed. "Not that door!" Both closed it shut as Danny mused. "How did we not identify that door in the first place?"

"Then maybe you should be a little more specific, huh?!" Danny nodded as they went to another door and flew in, closing it just as Skulker flew close before smelling the air for their scent.

"I can smell how near they are. Sweat. Fear. And..." He paused on the last scent with confusion. "...beans. One of them must have had a burrito." Back in Amity Park, Tucker was returning home with his whole set up as he exclaimed in joy.

"Okay guys, nap time." He plucked each other up and set them in rocking cradles that were marked with dollar bills. "Nighty-night, Alexander. Sleep tight, Andrew. Pleasant dreams, Benjamin. You're my favorite! I mean, of course, except not counting—huuuuh!" He stopped as he found no more sacks available for nap time as he stammered in fear. "Tucker Junior!? My baby, where's my baby!?" Where that flour sack was came to be in the possession of the other half of the assignment who was currently adorning it to match her appearance with a wag, eyes, and lipstick as she cuddled over it.

"Aren't you adorable? You are now! Yes, you are! Now!" Back on the side of the Ghost Zone, Danny vaguely recognized the place as Wandering Isles, a peaceful section of the Ghost Zone where isles of land freely roamed the Zone and often entered the main Zone to compile into larger masses, one of many as they soon settle down and the board returned to Valerie as Danny moved a bit to get feeling back together before he spoke.

"I can move again. Thanks for the save back there, though I really should have given more detail about this whole craziness."

"Yeah? Well, thanks for nothin' much." She answered as she pointed at him with some rage. "It may not be your fault I'm stuck in this freaky ghost world, but I am not okay with this whole thing, okay!?" Danny answered back as he sat down, settling the handcuff on a larger rock before Danny plucked a good one off the ground.

"Right." He started to bash the chain, pounding to every word of interest he said. "Because _clearly_ the maniac who _cuffed_ and _dragged_ us in here didn't have _anything_ to do with it."

"Man, I'm just gettin' paired up with all kinds of jerks in my life!"

"I can't be that much of a jerk... right?" Valerie gave a glance before she answered.

"No, but you didn't know it was me when we were... recently interacting."

"Recently? I know I am dumb and clueless at times, but are you saying what I think you're saying?" Danny answered as Valerie plucked up a second rock and joined in hammering the link.

"Yeah, I actually do have a job besides ghost hunting."

"_Two_ jobs?" He asked with sympathy as Valerie continued, using her rage in the swings.

"I gotta catch ghosts like you and raise money for college! I coulda been paired up with _anybody_, but I got stuck with you, _insensitive..._" She struck harder as she shouted. "..._uncaring_..." She struck again in a yell. "..._Danny Fenton!_" The rock crumbled to pieces as the handcuffs somehow activated and a hologram played out before them in surprise as Skulker spoke on the screen.

"Greetings, panicking youngsters. As much as I would enjoy following the smell of beans through the infinite realms of the ghost zone, I believe I have something you want right here." To both of their horror, Skulker held up the flour sack as both exclaimed.

"We have to go back!" Skulker laughed evilly as the transmission cut as Danny spoke.

"Looks like we are going after the hunter, seriously, if I didn't often hear Lancer shout book covers, I wouldn't even know what this situation would be called."

"The heck does Lancer shouting book covers have anything to do with this!?"

"Because, Valerie, this..." He smiled as he finished. "This is the Most Dangerous Game, it's time for the hunter to become the hunted."

* * *

Back in Amity Park, there was a little less of a situation with Tucker and Sam as the geek exclaimed in disbelief of what happened to their project, in the hands of the counterpart of the pairing. "What have you done with our child?!" Sam glanced up for a second before Tucker stomped over and stole the sack away as he exclaimed with putting a beret on the sack's wig. "Give him back! It's obvious Tucker Jr. needs a strong father." Sam retorted as she stole the sack away.

"No way! Lilith needs to be raised in a nurturing environment. Not some overcrowded baby barracks!" Tucker gasped as he exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh! The other babies! Gotta go!" He kissed the sack first. "Bye!" Then kissed Sam, leaving them both stunned of what just happened as Tucker drew it out. "Uhhh..." Sam recovered before she answered.

"Tha-at never happened!"

"You got that right!" Tucker backpedaled out of there before turning with a shout. "Daddy's gotta run!" He bolted as Sam yelled after him.

"Don't forget to pick up milk!" Back in the Ghost Zone, Danny shook as Valerie cast him a glance as she questioned.

"Are you okay?"

"Just... got the sudden urge to punch Tucker in the mouth, is that bad...?"

"No... I don't think so." They flew over to the island and landed, the board returning as Valerie questioned. "Shouldn't you be asking me NOT to mention that you got shot... in the butt... with a dart?"

"Honestly, it's going to be a running gag, like the lovebirds comment." In the distance, Skulker mused.

"That's it, come to my trap." The sack baby had other plans as it started to cry, surprising Skulker into dropping it and picking it back up as he exclaimed. "What is this thing?! Why will it not cease it's infernal racket?!" He squeezed it as if to strangle it as Val and Danny quickly spotted him and made a beeline for him, just as he threw it down and readied a blaster with a command. "Silence!" But the shot went wide as Danny shoulder-checked the shot and Valerie quickly grabbed the sack before leaping away and made a break for it when Skulker fired at them.

"Go high!" Valerie motioned the hover board to activate and they took off to the missed shot and evaded a few more before Valerie shouted.

"Go low!" They dove down and dodged a few more before tripping Skulker, knocking him off his feet as Danny commented with a short hover.

"Hey, I think we're finally getting this teamwork thing down!" They didn't mused for long before Skulker jumped and grabbed them by the link as Valerie exclaimed, the board not recognizing her disappearance for some reason and dropped.

"Just in time to get our butts fried!" Skulker inquired the purpose of the sack as he snatched it away from Valerie.

"Now, before I destroy you both, I must know what is so valuable about this package."

"It's not the package that's valuable, it's how you take care of it that counts!"

"And dude! You are a horrible mother!" Danny sassed, just as the sack released some massive gas into Skulker's face, blinding him before Danny spotted another one of Valerie's weapons and reached for it as she exclaimed.

"Wait, what are you doing!"

"Giving Skulker a taste of his own booby trap!" He pulled and red spikes flew at them, but Danny made sure they were low enough as the projectiles hit Skulker fully with his yelp before he exclaimed.

"I can't see... I can't move..." His body started to freeze up before he toppled to the ground paralyzed as Danny spoke to the now-stuck ghost.

"Please, don't get up on our account." Danny obtained the key to the cuffs and deactivated them from the pair, Valerie picking up the sack before the pair made to walk away, but stopped for a short moment to give Skulker another whiff of beans about a itchy nose.

On the other side of the dimensions, Tucker was returning home to his mom baking cookies as he greeted her. "Hi, mom!"

"Cookie, dear? Just made 'em fresh for the big bake sale." He picked one up and thanked her.

"Thanks, Mom."

"No, thank you, Son, for picking up all that flour for me." Just as quickly, he spat it out and looked to find that the day-care had failed, all of the sacks he was taking care of were now just cookies as he cried out.

"Nooooooooooo!" Back in the Ghost Zone, Danny and Valerie emerged from the undergrowth and Valerie huffed in dismay on the state of the flour sack, ruined for the most part.

"At least it's not crying. I guess I was kinda harsh on you before. I just never thought this was going to be the type of day we were going to have today."

"Trust me, that guy was much more tame right here, mainly he is after my pelt."

"You mean to kill you?"

"Nope, I mean to skin me of my skin and hang it somewhere in his trophy room." Valerie shook as she groaned out a response.

"Eww..." She shook her head as she continued. "Okay, so let's get out of this ghost world and we'll see how long it can last before we try being rivals again.

"Zone. It's more of a zone." They shook hands before Danny continued. "But, if you insist..." He quickly turned invisible and overshadowed her as he continued. "We're going to have to do it my way, though!" With that, he flew the both of them out of there as Danny found that Valerie was actually pretty chatty, liek a excited puppy.

'Did you really just...!'

'Yep, overshadowed you, it's a power I don't use all that often, but I do use it in needed measures, I'm sure you remember Paulina going both weird AND lovey-dovey on me?'

'Oh my gosh, what happened both times, this is hanging over her head for a lifetime!' They passed through the portal and took to the sky of Amity after passing through the flooring of Fenton Works.

'Sure, the first time was a slight mishap with a friend, they were jealous of me having ghost powers and WISHED for them, the wish was made with selfish reasons, but at that time, Paulina was dating 'Tucker Foley'.'

'Oh yeah, possessed by a boy, big time victory for me, what was it like...!?'

'A lot of Spanish yelling and my friend and I arguing before I checked for the source of the wish.' They made it to Elmerton as Valerie continued.

'Second time, second time! What happened then!?'

'It was recent, but a mostly-friendly ghost was trying to make her boyfriend jealous and ended up possessing Paulina and blackmailing me into dating her, you were not there, but it involved a biker and his shadow.'

'OH MY GOSH, that greasy-looking ghost from that one night!?'

'You got that right, now...' He landed on her bed and deactivated the suit as he finished. 'Get some rest, you look exhausted.' With that, he phased out of her and made to walk away. "Now to get out of here before she—oh, man! You gotta be kiddin' me!" He spotted the mascot suit of Nasty Nat and mused. "Wow, I was being too hard on her after all." Valerie started to stir and, on reflex, Danny hid behind the suit before reverting back to Fenton as Valerie sprung up.

"What?! Who's there?!" Danny revealed himself as he made an explanation, in case she forgot about everything.

"Uh, sorry. The door was open and, uh, according to your chart, it's my turn to take the baby, and—" Valerie gasped as she sprung off the bed and snatched the mascot.

"Gimme that!" She pulled it away as she threatened him. "And you'd better not tell anyone, I mean it! You'd better not!" Danny glanced to the hand-print that he left on the suit and replied.

"I won't tell anybody!" He stopped before he spoke with sympathy. "Wow, this is like the worst job ever. I didn't know this was the job you were talking about."

"That's because you didn't bother to get to know me all that well." She answered as she put the costume on the bed as Danny agreed.

"Yeah. You're right. And I'm supposed to be the good guy." Valerie paused before she spoke back.

"You're right, you are suppose to be one of the good guys, but being good doesn't mean that you know everything. That is beyond us, all of us." Danny nodded as he asked.

"So, uh, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Valerie glanced down to the ruined flour sack and held it up as she spoke.

"You can start by not getting mad." Danny raised a brow before Valerie corrected. "Oh, right, you were there about the whole thing, so..." Danny lightly took the suit and smiled.

"I think I'll give you a bit more space, besides being a mascot isn't that hard, it's the troublesome folks that are REALLY the problem." Valerie smiled back at how willing Danny was willing to help her...

* * *

Tetslaff was not so kind as she shouted. "Fenton! Gray! Your flour sack is a disgrace. But seeing it's not part of a '_cookie', _I'm giving you a 'C'." Both beamed as Tetslaff continued. "Manson, for exemplary parenting skills, if questionable taste in makeup, I'm awarding you an 'A'." She cleared her throat as Danny and Valerie turned to the last pair, the grandeur of what even just happened was unsettling. "An 'A-plus' goes to Trace and Rahmat in true, uh..."

"Indian style, Tetslaff..." Cedric answered, clearly doing a remarkable impression of a sultan while Talia just coddled her sack with familiarity, Topaz roped in as well as a bard, her shock still there as Tetslaff continued.

"...In true Indian style, of course..." Sam hugged her sack as the last target was made with a poof of gas toward him. "As for _you, _Mr. Day Care...!" Later, Tucker sobbed as he handed back refunds to everyone who ever trusted his babysitting service.

"Gonna miss you, Alexander! And Andrew! And especially you, Benjamin!" The partners disbanded and Tucker pulled down his banner as Sam walked over with Lilith in a snuggle sack as she spoke.

"Cheer up, Tuck. You can still visit Lilith on weekends."

"Sam, it's just a flour sack." He tossed the banner, only to hit someone as they exclaimed.

"Hey! Watch where you're throwin' that! Show a little respect." The banner had hit Nasty Nat since the refunds took place in the parking lot of Nasty Burger, but the voice surprised the pair of them as Sam exclaimed.

"Wait, Danny?" Sam walked over with Tucker behind her as Danny huffed as he explained it.

"Yeah. The other day I was such a jerk to, to, uh, the person wearing this thing, I figured I would give that person the day off."

"Aw, you're not half bad, Danny. Maybe someday Valerie will figure out the other half isn't either."

"She knows, but don't tell her that you know that she is Nasty Nat right now, she would kill me if you tattled."

"You didn't say it wasn't. Relax. I'm sure she's finally enjoying herself." On the other side of town, Valerie was having quite a time chasing down the Box Ghost, the elusive ghost just as problematic as Danny told her about as she exclaimed with gun in hand.

"You're goin' down!"

"You cannot catch me! For I am the Box— owww!" Meanwhile, Valerie laughed as she thought about it.

'Danny's right, this is going to a running gag, getting shot in the butt!'


	19. S1 - The Million-Dollar Ghost

Up in the lands of Wisconsin, all was peaceful, but it was not so through the portal to the Ghost Zone that Vlad had managed to assemble on his own, basing it off of the Fenton Portal but without the 'on' button on the inside as that was an accident on Jack's part, as he huffed in glee, finally finding the one thing required to get his hands on the most unique and empowered of all the ghost artifacts as he spoke. "Ah, there you are." He floated closer to the display case with a single key inside it, a skull adorning its green frame as he continued. "The legendary Skeleton Key." He came closer as he mused the purpose of such a tool, the true and ultimate skeleton key in all of existence.

"With it, I can open any door, travel to any realm, free any prisoner..." He paused as the area between him and the key warped with a violet orb and rings of purple before it condensed into a hulking beast of red, grey, and black-white studded bands its colors as it roared at him as Vlad just beamed. "And if you're the only thing standing between me and that…" The behemoth clapped its hand on Plasmius before pausing, opening them to an empty space as Vlad reformed in the air beside the claws, cocking a brow in taunt before the beast blasted a breath of purple flames at him, but Vlad was prepared nonetheless with a shield, blocking the blast form touching him as the beast snatched him in rage as he chuckled to the inability of the ghost guardian. "This is going to be a _snap_!" He vanished in a puff of flame to the guardian's confusion before he appeared at its belly before delivering a powerful, ecto-infused punch to it, sending it flying before he duplicated into four separate Vlads.

The Behemoth recovered, but it was not enough as the four went on the attack as one lashed out a lasso, another fired eye beams, and the third fired an ecto-beam as they riddled the beast and restrained the guardian before the original glanced to the key and made a break for it. Unfortunately, he was not so successful as the guardian broke free and lashed out the tail, smacking Vlad away and through his portal, he crashing into the wall of his lab and breaking some of his materials. He could barely recover to jump back into the portal before his copies were kicked out of the Zone as well and reformed into him as the Behemoth surged out its head to attack, but unable to get through the passage as Vlad recovered with getting up and scowled.

"Very well, Behemoth." He raised his hands and spoke again to them glowing pink. "No more Mr. Nice Plasmius." He stomped over to the raging monster and raised his hands up to blast it before an alert went off and both looked to a device attached to the Portal with surprise before the Behemoth pulled itself back through the link as Vlad checked the alert and device to see what the problem was, the device bubbling and frothing with green ectoplasm as he spoke.

"'Change the ecto-filtrator'?" Suddenly, he realized what it might as he shouted. "Aww, _fudge buckets_!" He quickly turned intangible, just as the whole place exploded, launching pieces of rubble all over the ground as it was over just as quickly as it happened, Vlad dropping the intangible to exclaim to the destruction of the housing. "Aah! My house!" He recovered from the ruined piping and stone as he assured himself. "I can always buy another one, but the _key_!" He turned to the destroyed lab and, worse, the decimated portal. "I can't get that key without a portal!" He huffed before starting to think about his plan of action, with arms down in exasperation. "I'll need to find another working one..." He stopped in realization and straightened up before changing back to Vlad Masters as he pulled a picture of the reunion party, showing the Fentons and him in the picture and in a more comical side of the party as he mused. "I guess I'll just have to take Jack Fenton's!" He paused before he lowered the photo and reached for his phone. "But first..."

What is a challenge to him when he could give the same to young Daniel Fenton...?

* * *

The day was starting out rather well as Danny thanked Jazz for her timely driving. "Thanks for driving me to school today, Jazz."

"No problem, Danny." His older sister replied as they walked through the halls of Casper Hall with the roaming crowd as Danny breathed in a easy relief as both carried a book in one hand.

"Yeah, sometimes it's nice to avoid the bus and quietly and anonymously slip into school." He swept his hand at how simple it was today before the whole place lit up as the P.A. shouted.

"Ghost alert. Ghost alert." The crowd stopped in surprise before Jazz yelped to Danny as she grabbed his shirt, dropping her book in the blaring red lights.

"Danny! Hide!"

"Why?" He replied back as a look of confusion cross her face before she replied.

"Um… That's an excellent question..." She released and they turned back down the way to Sam and Tucker walking over before Danny asked.

"What's going on?" Topaz, Talia, and Cedric just returned to conversing their plans while Sam explained it with a slip of paper in hand.

"Didn't you get the memo?" She raised it to Danny and Jazz's eyes as she continued to explain it. "The school's running _ghost_ drills now."

"'Ghost drills'?" Jazz inquired as Sam just pointed down the way for them to see what could be Mr. Lancer in a monster mask as he made spooky noises as he just made it a minor haunting.

"Oooooh… I am a ghost!" Jazz cut that idea short as she pointed at the teacher TRYING to be scary, enough to invoke a ghost that they had faced.

"Who's that supposed to fool?" Sadly, there was one who did fall for it as all heard his loud voice.

"GHOOOOST!" Jack Fenton slid into place in front of the Fenton kids in the Fenton Peeler armor as he held up the memo as he bellowed. "I got the memo! And I know there are ghosts around here!" Both siblings cried out to stop him.

"Dad! No!"

"It's not a ghost!" Danny pleaded as Sam and Tucker looked afraid of the outcome as well. "It's an out-of-shape teacher in a mask!" But nothing had stopped Jack as he replied back before shouting.

"We'll see about that, son. EAT GHOST PEELER, SPOOK!" His left, which was holding the Peeler fired the weapon and hit Lancer, shredding not just the mask, but his shirt and pant rights off, exposing him in a white undershirt with a lot of hair exposed and Shakespeare boxers which kind of left Lancer publicly embarrassed in the school as the Fentons just knew the trouble that was just caused while Jack just commented."Wow, he *is* out of shape. And I'm usually the large one around here." It was that moment that Lancer stormed over with the picture frame of George Washington in his hands, to hide his sudden exposure, as he scowled.

"I can't give you detention, but someone named 'Fenton' is staying after school." Just as quickly, Jack and Jazz abandoned Danny to his fate as they exclaimed.

"Whoa! Look at the time!" They bolted off as Danny lightly sighed.

"Well, this is going to be good." With that, he headed off to see what comes out of the punishment, the friends just shrugging to what could be done more than them tutoring him heavily...

* * *

At FentonWorks, Jazz tried her best to dissuade her father in the mess of the Fenton Lab, but that was a vain attempt as she spoke. "All I'm saying is you might want to think twice before you barge in like that." She lowered her arms and raised a brow as she continued. "You really got Danny in trouble."

"Oh yeah, you think he's in trouble now!" Jack gestured to the lab where a great deal of mess had covered the surfaces in green ectoplasm, Maddie and Jazz sharing a look as this mess was actually Jack's fault, he was in one of those 'inventor mood' moments and left it a war zone as he scoffed. "Look at this place! Danny hasn't cleaned the lab in weeks, and the beakers are caked with goo and-" He stopped as he glanced to the portal. "-would you look at that."

Beside the Portal's panel was the Fenton Ecto-filtrator and it was bubbling up with ectoplasm pooling out on the floor as Jack bellowed. "The ecto-filtrator hasn't been changed in six months, that can't be good!" Danny made his presence known as he stumbled down the steps of the lab.

"And it'll be six more by the time I get done with all this extra work Lancer assigned me." It was quite hefty with the additional work on his shoulders as he dropped the pack on the flooring before he turned his attention to his dad with a rub and a short glare. "Dad, are you familiar with the term 'Stay away from my school'?" Maddie replied to Jack's clueless nature.

"Sweetie, relax." She took off her hood as she continued. "You know your dad loves you, and he doesn't mean to make your life more difficult." Sadly, that was not meant to be as the TV set down in the Lab flickered to life with a news cast.

"The hunt is on for the ghost boy!" The Fenton Clan turned to the set as both Jack and Danny yelped in confusion.

"_What_?" On the set was Harriet Chin, having been demoted for a sudden interview gone wrong, reported the new turn of events.

"As a result of today's false ghost alert at Casper High, the need for competent, 'non-Jack Fenton' ghost hunters in Amity Park has never been more obvious." Jack beamed at the sound of his name.

"Hey, they said my name!" He paused as the paragraph sounded to him. "'Need for competent ghost hunters?'" He hummed before fiddling with the Peeler. "What is that supposed to mean?" He didn't get much of an answer form the device, other than a face full of green goo as the news cast continued.

"Luckily, a mysterious benefactor has offered a million dollar bounty on the head of Amity Park's most famous ghost, and hired the world's best-known ghost hunters to track him down." The Clan found it humorous as both Maddie and Danny counted with smiles on their faces.

"Three, two, one..." Jack somehow pulled out a Fenton Bazooka as he shouted.

"Nobody's catching-" He bashed a few boxes out of the way the Bazooka as he continued to shout. "-that ghost kid, but me!" He headed off as the other stack started to rattle before toppled, glass breaking before Jack returned to commented on the sudden event. "Danny, clean that up." He headed off once more as the clan just looked at each other with smiles before Maddie realized something.

"Wait a second, who would put a bounty on Danny and invite novice ghost hunters from across the world?" Jazz clued in as well.

"Actually, that doesn't sound good at all..." Both glanced to Danny as he remarked.

"If it is any worry, I will look into these hunters when I can, but for now, I got some work to do." He grabbed hold of his pack and headed upstairs to get the subjects under control to Lancer's liking...

* * *

The following day, Sam expressed her concern as the friends stood under the entrance banner of 'Welcome Ghost Hunters' at the Nasty Burger. "Danny, aren't you worried? These are the best known ghost hunters in the world!" Danny countered as he chuckled.

"Sam, the 'best-known', they're not the 'best'." They glanced to the first ghost party that had arrived, a party of three that featured a hippy-looking guy, a short-stack smarty woman, and a scared-cat tiger somehow as he spoke. "The Groovy Gang and Scaredy Cat…" Sadly, that intro also saw the tiger suddenly jump and gripped the woman as she yelped and toppled to the guy expressing some remorse for the event as the next party made their entrance like a pair of go-hard rockers.

"Extreme Ghostbreakers…" They played the surf-guy mentality as they rode on a ATV and motorcycle and the guy was just dumb to mistake his partner as a 'male' before they revved to sped off, except the guy's bike went its own way with the power as the third party was made known in white suits, shades, and with looks too seriously.

"The government's ghost hunting squad, Guys in White." The runaway bike splashed the pair of agents with mud and revealed their 'cleanliness' problems and too much code with them being splattered with mud as both Sam and Danny seemed to beam to the array of dumb as Danny spoke once more.

"It's a virtual 'who's who' of who can't catch ghosts." His waving hand closed as he realized who else was going to join the party. "Which means he should be arriving any second now." Horns were heard as the friends glanced to the side, just as the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle roared into the parking lot and crushed the ATV and motorcycle as Maddie called out from the passenger seat.

"Sorry about that!" Jack peered out from the driver seat as he commented as well.

"Wow." He leaned out and glanced to the Ghostbreakers as he spoke. "You should be careful where you park those things. This thing is a tank." Danny just beamed at the scene with Sam looking at the ride as well.

"I've got nothing to worry about." Sam smiled as well as the trio just glanced to each other before speaking to themselves.

"My bet's on the GIW here."

"Considering that their whole page is a cultist's dream come true of immature and self-paid members, I am putting my gold on Jack."

"Are we really betting on Daniel's success here?" Topaz and Cedric turned to Talia as she just extended her hands out and Cedric spoke.

"The better question is where you put your idea of someone catching Danny in his ghost form." Talia looked around before back with a furrowed brow and puffed cheeks.

"...Jack..."

"You both are on." Topaz beamed as Tucker walked over with a white sheet as the party just stopped smiling to Tucker planning a marketing scheme.

"Good." He unfurled the sheet as he continued. "Then you won't have a problem with this." He unfurled it once more to revealed the words of 'BOO-Yea Tours' on it in green letters as Danny, Sam, Cedric, and Topaz just gave incredulous looks as he just continued, Talia remarking under her breath with 'human greed'. "Thanks to Danny,-" The tech-geek slipped the costume on as he answered. "-we know the location of every ghost sighting in Amity Park."

"Not sure where you got that idea from, but okay...?" Tucker didn't pay heed to that as he just continued.

"Tucker Foley's Boo-Yea Ghost Tours is bound to be a hit. Boo-Yea!" The five suddenly stepped back as Tucker was blasted with green goo before Sam countered with arms crossed.

"In retrospect, maybe dressing like a ghost in a parking lot full of ghost hunters _*_wasn't* a great idea." That was a given as the five stood beside the GAV while Jack just beamed at the hit while three of the male members of the collected ghost hunters looked angry with weapons drawn as Jack gloated.

"I got him! Me, Jack Fenton! Danny Fenton's father!" Danny, for his credit, looked worried before looking bored and disappointed as he asked.

"Is it wrong of me to think this was how I was expecting it to be?"

"No one is going to judge you otherwise, Danny, we still..." Before the five could think, Danny's phone rang and he pulled it out and answered.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Daniel, so sorry for calling like this, but I... need a large favor, it is in line with the bounty." Danny blinked before he lightly scowled.

"Uncle Vlad, what did you do!?" He whispered angrily as Vlad started.

"Well, let's just say that I may have blown up my own house by lack of ecto-filitrator regulation." Danny blinked once more as Vlad continued. "And, while I can buy another one, the ghost equipment is a different matter, especially a 'Skeleton Key' that can unlock anything in the Zone."

"W-Wait...!" Danny mumbled as the party drew closer to listen, except Tucker who was getting a bit of eye at him. "What exactly...?"

"No time right now, just enjoy some daily servings of carrion birds." The call cut short as the hunters were laughing at how Jack hit a bystander instead of an actual ghost, Danny confused to Vlad's meaning as Tucker worryingly had asked if he was going to grow a third arm before the real threat came.

The Ghost Senses went off and they turned to the sudden arrival of the ghost vultures, everyone screaming and scattering, taking action after the vulture made a swipe at him. "Stand back, everyone! I've got the home field advantage." He quickly readied the Fenton Fisher and took off after them with resolve while the other hunters just didn't do anything, but watch as the Groovy Girl just exclaimed.

"Like, that's not the Million Dollar Ghost!" She rested her fists on her hips as the Ghostbreakers spoke next.

"Then we should kick back and watch this." The female Breaker curled her fingers after the shrug as she exclaimed. "It'll be a riot!"

"An extreme riot, dude!"

"I'm a *girl*…?"

"Right."

"All right, ghosts!" Jack bellowed as he readied the Fisher for the cast. "Prepare to become the Fenton Catch of the Day!" He tossed the line and snagged one of the vultures as he reeled it in. "Gotcha!" His victory was short as the vulture quickly found its strength and flew as Jack was along for the ride as he shouted with a case of asphalt burn and flying pieces of the street. "I think he's giving up! Or something!" He didn't muse for long before slamming into the drive-thru Nasty Nat, losing his grip on the Fisher as the speaker answered to him while the head dropped onto his own head.

"Welcome to Nasty Burger. Wow. You're the worst ghost hunter *ever*."

"Well, excuse me for trying to do something, speaker." Jack answered back as the hunters just laughed at him before Sam yelled to Danny.

"Danny! Do something!"

"What do you want me to do?" He answered with removing his hands that were hiding his face from embarrassment of how Jack got owned by a speaker. He turned to the rest of the party as he continued. "I can't go ghost here! Besides, nobody's in any *real* danger yet, right?" That didn't last as two of the vultures swooped down and snatched Sam and Tucker before Topaz answered.

"You want to review that statement or are you going to save your girl and buddy?"

"She is not really my girl and he is my buddy." Danny bolted to transform behind the Nasty Burger, the trio turning to each other before Topaz huffed and surrender ten dollars to Talia and Cedric, five for both.

"You win." Both shook their heads as Danny changed, the rings enveloping him as his shirt and pant became a jumpsuit, hair turned hair and eyes lit up as green orbs before he took flight after Sam and Tucker. The bout of laughter continued before their watches started to beep and they checked before their exclaimed.

"_*_Ghosts*!"

"Aw, quit mocking me." Jack huffed while Maddie did her best to comfort him as Danny soared after the vultures before a black-gloved hand snatched him out of the air and hauled him into the nearby construction set before he exclaimed to his interference.

"Plasmius! What are you doing here?" Vlad hummed with tapping his jaw as he answered.

"Well, let's see, your father looks like a fool while the other hunters were just morons for doing nothing, there's a million dollars on your head that will keep you out of the way and human greed is driving it. What do you think I'm doing here, making tea and crumpets with the Queen?!"

"Now that... would be interesting to see, Uncle." Vlad beamed as the two fought, Vlad making the shield to block Danny, but he swept left and blasted, catching Vlad off-guard before he tried the same technique to Vlad's counter and smiled as it only cracked, but didn't break. "Hey, this training is really paying off, I approve!" He glanced down to the moronic assembly of hunters trying to find him or them like chickens without heads as he inquired. "So you hired these idiots?"

"Yes. Every idiot except your father." The pink energy that generated in Vlad's hand soon formed into something else, a flyswatter. "He's a *free* idiot." He thrusted the hand as the swatter smacked as Danny, due to being weightless in flying, was sent out of the air. He landed on a building and propped himself up before he looked left as his friends called out.

"Danny, help!" He peered over the ledge, just to see his friends get dropped... into a dumpster of refuse and it closing shut with them inside before Danny turned his attention to Vlad as he exclaimed, taking flight again.

"As much as I'd enjoy catching up, Plasmius, shouldn't you be getting along to the evil scheme of your life?" Vlad fired a few blasts as Danny continued with dodging. "Oh, that's right! You never told me your scheme for today, did you." He came to rest as he spoke. "So what's the plan, Plasmius, got a portal to check?" He primed a fist before Vlad caught it and discharged electricity into Danny as Vlad huffed.

"Oh please, Daniel." He leaned his head forward to Danny as he spoke. "Must I *actually* defeat you with one hand behind my back, before you realize, you're outmatched!"

"Well, you do have years of skill, I have only had at least a year." Danny groaned as the discharge had reverted him back to Fenton before it stopped and he turned back to Phantom, curious why Cedric, Talia, and Topaz were not doing anything to help him here, but he dismissed it as the trio helped Tucker and Sam out of the dumpster as Vlad spoke to the now dazed Phantom.

"Ah, ah, ah!" He raised his chin with a smile and closed eyes. "We can't have you pass out, and change back into Danny Fenton, now can we?" He leaned forward close to Danny as he spoke. "This might be your *father's* party, but *you're* the guest of honor!" With a final word, Vlad tossed Danny toward the hunters as the GIW were the first to see him.

"It's the million dollar ghost!"

"Whoa! Do you know how many extreme jockstraps I could buy with a million dollars?" All of them primed to attack Danny as he continued to come toward them, Jack and Maddie just playing the part to be frank, as the tiger was also readied while modern items like a skateboard, a pen, and a lint roller turned into weapons as Tucker shook to the refuse that covered the pair of them.

"That settles it. Nasty Burger smells the same before, *and* after the fact." Sam was not concerned with that as she yelped.

"Danny!" He landed before the hunters and now had weapons glance right back at him as he just mused to himself.

'Whoa, what a bunch of wannabe hunters, only Mom and Dad actually pose a threat here...' He was surrounded now as he propped himself back up as Scaredy Cat growled at him before he just did the one thing that would work against the tiger. "...Boo." The tiger was not brave one bit as it jumped, landing on the dark-skinned agent of the GIW as he yelped.

"Ow! I have a skin breach on Facial Sector Five." While they were distracted, Danny phased through the concrete and disappeared as the Groovy Dude just questioned.

"Like, shouldn't we focus on the Ghost Kid? You know, before Jack Fenton does something stupid and he escapes?" Jack didn't shove them out of the way as he just had his bazooka at the ready before he pointed out.

"You do realize that he doesn't need me to distract you if he can phase through the ground, right?" Still, he had to play the convincing hunter as he whipped about and spotted Danny phasing back out at a distance and Jack landing his sights on him before the weapon charged.

Nothing was said before Danny bolted into the ground once more as Jack lowered the weapon as he pointed out. "See, he doesn't need me running around to escape, he can do it whenever he seems to decide." That didn't lighten the glares that he was getting before he retorted. "Oh, come on, what the heck were you hunters even DOING, you were standing around, wanting to get money out of this whole thing, so I suggest another course of action..." He glared back and they flinched to the powerful stare he returned. "Get in line and protect, don't be greedy about it." He headed off as the Breakers and GIW dropped on their behinds while Dude and Scaredy just covered their faces on the ground with Girl toppled under them.

* * *

Back at the Lab, Danny glared at the Ecto-Filtrator before punching it and crossing his arms as Sam spoke, Talia, Cedric, and Topaz there too to hear what Danny had to say about the whole thing. "Come on, Danny." She rolled her eyes and rested a hand on her hip as Danny glanced to her. "You can't tell me the only thing your billionaire arch-enemy is here to do is embarrass your Dad." Danny looked at the control panel again as Tucker brushed any remaining ectoplasm from his sleeve.

"And date his mom." But Danny cut in as he spoke.

"No! That's exactly not just why he's here." He started to fiddle with the panel as Cedric aided some with the measures. "To make my dad look like a fool to all those wannabes with some ulterior motive under the cloak-and-dagger." Jack came down happily as Danny continued ranting, Jack getting to heard it too. "I mean, did you see the way those ghost hunters were laughing at him? That is down right cruel!" Jack beamed at the defense that Danny was exhibiting as Danny just stopped to point at the filtrator and look up from it, unaware that Jack was there. "So frustrating!" Jack arrived behind them and Tucker and Sam took on looks of concern as Danny just continued. "We're all gonna have to live with my dad's insulted status for the rest of our lives, because people think they are better than the ACTUAL scientist of ecto-ology. Just so...!" He stopped as he heard the tell-tale sign of Sam clearing her throat before he spoke. "He's right behind us, isn't he?" The six turned to him as Jack just beamed.

"Yes, I'm sure he is." He straightened up as he spoke. "If you need me, I'll be upstairs, trying to be doing something to help out." Jack headed back up the stairs as Tucker mused on how it could have turned out.

"Nice. You wanna go upstairs and make your *mom* cry?" He got clocked in the head by two Demis, Sam snickering as Danny huffed with some of the anger gone from his systems.

"Great. I just almost managed to do Plasmius's job for him, if I was less than kind and was just... so angry with embarrassment." Tucker rubbed his head as Sam answered with an idea.

"Well, there's only one thing that's going to cheer him up more: Catching a ghost." Danny beamed as well as he could do just that as he answered.

"Yeah, and not just any ghost..." He willed the rings around him to transform once more as he finished with glowing greens. "Public Ghost Enemy #1..."

* * *

Jack didn't show it, but he was actually quite hurt when the hunters were just laughing at him, but Danny's words were the best to hear as he mused. "Danny's right. Who do those guys think they are, they barely helped stop those vultures, they are actual ghosts, so didn't they know about them and only got alerted to Danny's presence?" He hummed before he continued. "If only I could figure it out beforehand, that would make it all the more reasonable to know..." Danny took the chance to form behind him and speak up.

"Booooo!" Jack didn't jump as Danny tried again. "Whoo-ooo-ooo!" Nothing again as Jack was in thought before Danny pulled a 'Box Ghost'. "*Fear me*!" Still nothing as he floated over and waved a hand in front of Jack, the thinking stopping as he spoke to the turned attention. "Hello! Ghost! Right in front of ya!" Jack smirked as he spoke back.

"I know, Dann-o, but why you are trying so hard to be a spooky ghost is beyond me here." Danny huffed as Jack spoke again with hands under his jaw. "I was just thinking about the hunters, they were rude, sure, but why didn't they recognize ghosts, it seemed only that you were the sole target there." Danny floated over the table as he spoke.

"Well, your's and Mom's equipment haven't had much of a field day with ghosts, it could be fine-tuned to measure a emerging ghost from the portal or around you, my signature is something easily detected in ghost form." Jack popped up as Danny went on. "Vlad is behind the bounty and the hunters, but I don't know what he is after, he called and said something about an ecto-filtrator, I didn't get it before the vultures attacked and you put up a fight to take them, but they are actually stronger than humans if given the right stimulant."

"Ecto-filtrator?" Jack rubbed his jaw as he thought about it. "That's strange, an ecto-filtrator could do some real damage, but it also severs the connection between our world and the..." He stopped and face-palmed. "Of course, even after these years, we are still naive..." Danny raised a brow as he asked.

"How so?"

"Vladdy has never really let the notion of ghosts float past him, but with these days, I'm starting to think that maybe, he is trying to find various things of ghostly origin to contain, for a better word." Jack hummed with a rub of the jaw before he spoke. "I think we can see what he's up to, but first... we need to make it look like we did capture you."

Danny raised a brow before he spoke. "Which is...?"

"Eat hot Fenton Weasel, ghost scum!" Danny turned, just as Maddie unleashed the Fenton Weasel on him and he yelped as he was sucked in. He struggled to escape the vacuum as he yelped.

"Betrayal!?" He yelped as he was fully sucked in. "Okay, this really wasn't part of the plan!" Maddie beamed as she spoke.

"Got you, Danny, and nice to be helping your father, but like you both said, needs to be convincing."

"...Why did I open my mouth like that...?" It fell into Maddie praising Jack and he acknowledging it as part of the plan before Danny huffed in the Weasel, still apparent to what was happening. "Ugh, gross. Hello! I'm right here! *Hello*!" That was disregarded for a time as Jack geared up to meet the client.

As for the party, the trio just watched as the *ghost hunters* were being ferried about by Sam and Tucker in a bike-trolley, which was stupid, but Tucker was all about that green, completely human greed as Cedric just rubbed his temples. "I don't believe this..."

"Well, let's just do something else with our time than watch two young teens try to keep several ghost hunters off their friend's back." Talia smiled as Cedric nodded before both turned to Topaz, she freezing with a grape soda in hand.

"...What...?" The smile that Talia gave was of a deep mischief as she mused.

"So, when are you going to tell Danny that you... *like* him?" Topaz's eyes bulged and she sprayed the window, Cedric rolled his eyes as he cleaned up the mess while Topaz coughed it up before stammering.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!? Me... a-and the Dipstick!?" She waved her arms in complete denial as she just yelped. "NO... no, no, he is all for that goth chick, no way can I..."

"So you are telling me that you would not 'cuddle him under the starlight and lock lips with him in the pale moon light'?" A visible poof of steam emitted from Topaz's face and ears as Cedric shook his head as he looked to the other side.

"What gossip, Danny is in trouble with his relationship..." Cedric paused as the GAV rolled past, curious as to what Jack or Maddie could be up to as the ride just kept going to the destination set. Jack soon arrived with the Weasel in hand before he pondered to why the meeting for the million was in a dark alley.

"Hm. A funny place to claim a reward." He put down the paper and headed forward as Danny asked, from inside the Weasel.

"Are you sure you want to do this, 'Jack'?"

"I know exactly what I'm getting into. A bigger place in my son's heart. So, please, settle down."

"I know, but what if... it is a trap?"

Oh, *please*, 'ghost'! Why should I believe you on that?" It was short before the trap was sprung as a jail cage appeared around him and he yelled. "*Hey*!"

"Does that answer your question?"

"...No, not really." Jack answered to Danny's question before he peered forward to a patch of blue appearing on the opposite wall and a familiar face floated out with a numbers of claps and turning tangible as Jack exclaimed in surprise. "You! The Wisconsin Ghost himself!" Vlad answered as he 'went evil' on them both.

"Ah, very good. All the pawns doing exactly what they're supposed to." Jack had to admit, Vlad really could do the 'evil villain' rather well. "Leaving you two trapped and your Fenton Portal unprotected. So I can steal it and make it a Plasmius Portal!" Danny spoke up as he inquired.

"Wait a minute, you already have a ghost portal! What happened to it!?"

"He has a ghost portal?" Jack facepalmed before he spoke. "Of course, he had a ghost portal, but we both are not smart enough to change the filtrator when it is near it's limit, how foolish can we be!"

"You said it, not just me." Vlad shrugged as he continued. "It up and exploded on me. Ah, well, that's what you get for forgetting to clean the ecto-filtrator." He shrugged as he continued. "Hmm? Live and learn." He opened his eyes back up and glanced to the man in the cage. "Or in your case, die and learn." He braced before taking flight as Danny grimaced.

"Uh-oh."

"What an evil scheme..." Jack hummed before he beamed. "Vladdy can sure make such a plan, I remember when he pranked the whole football team, but no one even guessed it was him, he was amazing that it was spooky." Danny was quiet before he spoke.

"...Tell me more..." Jack beamed as they had time...

* * *

The progress of dismantling the Portal was just beginning by the vultures Vlad entrusted, but it would soon face an interruption as Jazz arrived to the kitchen, but it was darkened out as she asked out in confusion. "Mom? Dad? Danny?" Just as quickly, a black glove snatched her and pulled her under the table as Maddie whispered.

"Quiet! There are ghosts about!" Sadly, being stealthy was not in the plan as two of the vultures arrived at the sound of Jazz and the comment of ghosts.

"Actually, 'Ghosts' is a bit insensitive. We prefer the term 'Ecto-Americans'!" Both of the girls stood up as Maddie pulled out a green pill, just as Jazz spoke.

"That doesn't make any sense, that implies that you were created somewhere else before Amity!" Maddie threw the pill and it erupted in smoke and left them to dash for somewhere that Maddie knew about as she exclaimed to Jazz.

"Come on! We have to get to the weapons vault!"

"We have a weapons vault?" Jazz asked as the pair made it to a circular door and a keypad to which Maddie punched in a sequence before it told her 'DENIED' and she yelled.

"Darn that man!" The matriarch spoke as she answered the unasked question with a turn of the head. "Your father changed the password! There's no way in!" Sadly, that was also what the vultures intended as they landed on the pair's heads as the second answered.

"Or out!" They hurled the pair into the stockpile of weapons that was stored in the vault before Maddie grumbled.

"Ohhhh, *great*. We're stuck!"

"How can we be stuck? It's not like Dad would forget to put a handle on the inside of the door, right?" Another sad fact was made with the note on the door, attached to a wheel that should have been able to let them out as Jazz plucked it off and read. "'Note to self: Have Danny install handle on inside of door, Jack'." Her brows lowered in disbelief before Maddie spotted a second note and plucked to read it as well, from the upper part of the wheel.

"'Note to self: Inquire for actual replacement of iron wheel, jams too easily from ill-fit, Danny." Maddie glanced to Jazz as she beamed. "Well, at least we know about it." That didn't improve the mood as Jack had Danny laughing before Danny spoke again, this time with a serious vibe.

"You need to let me out! We have to get to our house and *fast*!"

"Why?" Jack asked as he continued. "Did you actually forget to change the filtrator? I told you..."

"Five times, I know, but I didn't get to changing the actual thing, the replacement wasn't on the stand when it should have been."

"Well..." Jack hummed. "I am pretty sure you are in trouble, but I don't really care about that." He plucked the Weasel up and released Danny. "So what's the first plan of action?"

"Getting you out first before I deal with another problem." He went behind Jack and turned them intangible as Jack mused.

"My tummy feels funny." They took flight and headed overhead of where the 'Ghost Tours' were going on, only to have the ghost hunters go on the offensive to get Danny, sadly, they were ill-prepared for the ghost boy as he just glanced down and huffed.

"Oh please." He grunted and suddenly, there were two more Danny Phantoms flying as he spoke. "Take care of the wannabes, I am taking Dad home." Both saluted and zoomed down, the trolley cut off from the pair riding the bikes as they barreled for the landing duo, the cart tipping over as the hunters went on the attack. The Breakers' launched hackey sack barely missed with a small eruption of goo behind the two duplicates before both spooked the tiger into the hunters with a bash, leaving them dazed as the pair high-fived and took the hunters to the trash back at the Nasty Burger before throwing them in and closing the dumpster shut as both spoke.

"Now, to stop Plasmius!"

"And save our home." Both took flight before returning to Danny, catching his breath while Jack rushed inside.

* * *

The process was long and tiring for the birds as Vlad mused. "I don't suppose you could move any faster?" The vulture who had pulled out a bolt from the portal got back up from being weighed down by the pulled bolt.

"We're two thousand and eight years old. Be happy we're moving at all." Any more was lost when a teal-blue line lashed out and wrapped around Vlad as he exclaimed.

"What the-?" Jack arrived with the Fenton Fisher as Vlad turned and proceeded to 'monologue' to the man. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. I get to waste you in your own home?" Vlad laughed as he continued. "This is the greatest day of my life." He emitted power and broke free of the line before he exclaimed. "Get him!" The vultures took flight and Danny arrived as he exclaimed.

"Dad!" He phased fully into the lab as he nearly stepped into battle stance. "I better-" He didn't get to finish or fight as Jack pulled out a Jack-O-Nine Tails and lashed out with it, dealing with the birds in quick succession before retracting the weapon and blowing on it like it was a smoking barrel to Danny's exclaim. "*Whoa*!"

Jack backed up his actions with his talk as well. "Nobody's wasting Jack Fenton while his family's in danger." He booked it for the portal before Plasmius cut him off as he mused with a lean forward.

"Oh please, fool. Your family's in danger every time you pick up a *butter knife*." He straightened up with tugging on the gloves as he finished. "It's time someone put you out of their misery." He backhanded Jack back and sent him slamming into a table, fortune favoring him as the Ghost Gauntlets landed on him before he got back up and exclaimed with putting the tools on, Cedric having field-tested the tools themselves to see that Danny was easily pulled out of both intangibility and invisibility.

"I might be a goof, I might mess up, but when my family's at stake, the gloves are off!" He held up his hand, donned in the Gauntlets before glancing to them for a bit. "Now, that is an oxymoron right here." Vlad made to take on Jack, but the big guy had him beat in weight and strength as he wailed on Vlad in true combat as Danny commented.

"Whoa, he's all over this! Which means-" Gripping his fists, he revert back to Fenton as he spoke. "-it's time to do my chores!" Danny headed off as he cleaned up the place quickly as Jack and Vlad helped out much in their fight, Vlad getting a few good shots, both laughing in the brawl. "Well, the table's clear... Beakers are taken care of…" Jack tossed Vlad and the older Demi blasted for the trash can that Jack picked up to get destroyed. "Aaand the trash has been taken out." He turned to the portal as he spoke again. "Which means I have plenty of time for-"

The alarm went off as the system spoke to his now panic. "Ghost Portal to explode in 30. 29. 28. 27. 26." The panic set in as Danny worked to remove the filtrator before he exclaimed in realization.

"The new filtrator. Where's the new filtrator?!" Jack had him covered as he offered the new one after plucking it up from one of the lower shelf of one of the tables with a brief respite from Vlad who was dazed from a good punch. "Uh-I probably should've done this any of the five times that you told me to."

"I'm sort of glad you didn't." They exchanged filtrators before Vlad made for a charge, only to get ectoplasm in the face when Jack blew the build-up in Vlad's face, causing him to flinch before getting grabbed, Jack opening the portal as man walked toward it as Vlad exclaimed, beaten up too amazingly.

"It's not possible. You're an idiot! AN *IDIOT*!" Jack pulled Vlad close as he retorted back.

"Maybe so, but I'm the idiot who beat you." He tossed Vlad into the air and punched him into the portal as he bellowed. "Thanks for stopping by, Vlad, call next time though, we can get a real shindig going if you could!" Danny cheered at Jack's victory as the portal closed.

"That was *awesome*!"

"Aren't you forgetting something? *Again*?" The intercom was nice enough to point it out as both looked up.

"Ghost Portal to explode-" The pair panicked as the canister escaped Danny's hands, both stumbling to catch it. "-in 5." Danny caught it. "-4." Both beamed before Fenton Works exploded...

* * *

The computer detailing the event as Jack remarked about it, the guys sitting in the kitchen with soda, popcorn, and the laptop detailing the event.. "Ah, you see? That's exactly what would happen if you don't change the ecto-filtrator every six months." Danny questioned as he asked.

"Why do you even have this simulation on your laptop?"

"So I never forget to tell you why it's important to change the ecto-filtrator." Jack answered back as Danny agreed.

"I won't. And you shouldn't forget this." Danny knocked an elbow to Jack as both stood up from the table. "I'm really proud of you, Dad. I still can't believe you beat Vlad back into the Ghost Zone." Jack rested his hands on Danny's shoulders as he spoke.

"Aw, thanks Danny. Vlad's a cool guy, but sometimes we can butt heads." He held up a finger as they walked. "So, from here on in-"

"I'll remember my chores-"

"-and I'll remember that my actions have consequences to others. Especially my family." They walked on before stopping as Jazz and Maddie called from the vault. Both looked at each other before Jack sighed. "Right, we... didn't fix the opening process for the vault, but I do know the code."

"Yeah, what is it?" Jack walked over and pushed in the ten-digit code and the vault opened and Maddie leapt out as she screeched.

Where are those no-good vultures, I am going to..."

"Taken care of, Maddie, I don't think they will be bothering us for a while." Maddie let up and the family just hugged before continuing on their day while Vlad emerged in a distant part of the Zone in both shock and disbelief.

"Unbelievable that. Jack Fenton beat me. Me!" He paused as the case that he was after bumped into his back and he took it in hand. "And yet here I am. Holding the key I've been searching for." He lower the case as he exclaimed. "Oh, Jack Fenton, even in success, you *fail*!" A roar echoed and Vlad turned to find the Behemoth towering over before devouring him, case and all as Vlad exclaimed, not planning to be spending the day as the behemoth's snack. "Oh, *BUTTER BISCUITS*!" Indeed, the victory was Vlad's, but he still could have gone without getting eaten by a ghostly guardian the size of a large monster truck...


	20. S1 - Control Freaks

On any normal day, a jewel robbery during the night would have been done by human hands, not able to phase through the glass itself as Danny poked his head in and remarked. "And I thought the merchandise is flying off the shelves is just an expression." He blasted the air to see what ghosts he was dealing with, but they were not there, not fully as a dwarf, a brute, some chick in an eye-patch, and a cloaked spirit as he exclaimed to them. "Woah! Who are you guys?" He didn't get an answer as the dwarf barreled over and started to pull at Danny as he exclaimed.

"Hey! I'm not a hat person! Especially if the hat is a dwarf!" He tore the ghost off and it slammed into the front window case and set off the alarms before Danny made to fight the others before getting confronted by the brute. "Okay, all things considered, maybe the tiny hat guy was better." The brute snatched him and hurled him at the eye-piece ghost who just rubberized out and slingshot him back to the cloaked figure as it parted to an exposed, spiked body of a girl, but more exactly to the number of tattoos that just came alive and attacked Danny as he exclaimed.

"Oh, come on, this is not fair at all!" He was forced back before he powered up a ecto-blast and lashed out, blasting the tattoos at the ghosts and bringing them down to the ground as he ranted. "You know, it's ghosts like you that give ghosts like me a bad name." He paused as a police drove up and the tattoos returned to the draping ghost before she took off, the others following and dropping the jewelry on Danny as the officers that arrived exclaimed.

"Freeze, Inviso-Bill!"

"Although it's hard to come up with a worse name than that." He turned intangible and slipped down, leaving the jewels behind as the partner cop spoke up to an idea as they approached the dropped goods.

"Hey. Want to take this stuff and blame the ghost kid?" A sigh came as the first officer spoke.

"You're under arrest."

"Awww..." Little did anyone know that this was but one string of trouble about to go down in Amity, by the hands of a greed-obsessed ringmaster...

* * *

At the Manson house, Sam rested with peace in her darkened room before a beam of light roused her up and she grimaced as her mother, Pamela Manson, exclaimed with the unveiling with her husband, Jeremy Manson. "Good morning, sunshine! And how do we greet the brand new day?"

"With a smile on your face and an attitude of gratitude!" Sam groaned as she rolled away with pillow shielding her as she groaned.

"I'm a creature of the night, doomed to a family of morning people."

"Uh, Sam, sweetie, I thought maybe we'd try to mix it up a little with wardrobe today." She somehow produces a pink sun with yellow floral print as Jeremy joined once more.

"Nothing says 'Hey world, look at me!' like floral prints."

"Okay, but I need to add just one little personal touch." To that, she turned the dress black and cut it short, to the horror of her mother as the day started just as well with breakfast, her grandma watching the TV as the woman on the TV spoke.

"Up next, is your teenage daughter moody, surly, is her outlook on life blacker than her eyeliner?" Sam blinked before glancing to her parents who glanced back with suspicion as the TV continued. "Take an active interest in your child. Know who her friends are. Learn to recognize a bad influence when it walks in your door." Danny, likewise, walked in with CDs as he exclaimed to Sam.

"Hey Sam, I got that Morbid Anti-social Youth CD you wanted." Sadly, the parents just glared at him as he spoke. "What? Have you heard 'My Parents Reek'? That cut rocks!" They glared once more before he just frowned at them. "It's music, ease up..." Any more was lost as the TV suddenly had a ad for something big as a red spiral consumed the screen and a pale, eerie-looking man looked back as he remarked.

"I... am Freakshow, ringmaster of the Circus Gothica..." He shoved the specter in hand toward the screen as a skeleton appeared with juggling skulls as the man remarked. "...where your nightmares come alive. Circus Gothica..." A creepy clown was seen as it howled in demented laughter. "...where the clowns never smile." It showed a heavily pierced man as Freakshow continued. "Circus Gothica. Come and get your freak on... with real freaks. Circus Gothica! Coming to Amity Park. Cross over... to the dark side." He wielded the staff close as Danny fell into a trance as he remarked.

"Cross over to the dark side..." His eyes lowered as they glowed red before Pam turned off the set as she spoke.

"Now there's some evil mind pollution we won't be seeing any time soon, sweetie." Sam stepped over as Danny was still for some reason.

"But we already bought our tickets." Both of her parents raised their brows to the sound of it as Sam just assured them with a sigh. "We'll be fine, it's just harmless entertainment, right Danny?"

"Cross over to the dark side..." He repeated as Sam just huffed.

"Hilarious." She took his wrist and hauled him away as she spoke. "Can we leave now, or do you want to stay and corrupt my grandma?" Both went through the door as Ida Manson spooked the pair of parents.

"Cross over to the dark si-i-ide." She huffed as she assured them. "I'm just kidding, lighten up!" Danny still stood as Sam, after closing the door, stomped over to him.

"Will you quit messing with my parents? That's my job!" The haze disappeared as Danny spoke.

"What?" He rested a hand to his face as he spoke. "Um, sorry, Sam, musta got a little spacey." He rubbed his head as he finished. "I was up pretty late last night."

"Just watch what you say around them, they already think I'm on the road to troubled teenhood." She started to walk, but the direction was different as Danny spoke.

"Where are you going? School's this way." He answered with pointing backward as Sam gleefully answered.

"The Circus Gothica Train pulled into town last night, I'm cutting first period to watch the opening ceremony at the train station."

"Sam..." Danny narrowed his brows as he spoke.

"Take it easy, Tucker's got first period free, he's covering for me." The horror of such a thing just screamed bad idea to Danny as Sam took off, likely having paid Tucker in advance to get the chance as Danny called out to her.

"Don't blame me if you get caught!" His ghost sense went off as he turned to the dwarf booking it, zooming under his legs as Danny peered up to the sky to see the other three. "And speaking of getting caught." He took after them with a call, the dwarf joining in flight. "I'm goin' ghost!" He jumped from the ground, to trash can, to truck and jumped with a boom into Phantom as the cops were also after the four before Danny arrived with a call. "Opening a new bank account? Don't forget your free toaster!" He fired an ecto blast and made the dwarf release the heavy sack, which slammed into the police cruiser and crashed it into a fire hydrant as the partner called out in anger.

"Curse you, ghost kid!

"Oh great, more fans." He took after the ghosts once more before stopping, the red orb on the Circus Gothica billboard capturing his mind before he shook it off and resumed the pursuit to find that he lost them and now overlooked the expanse of both the Circus and its accompanying train and a horde of goths as he huffed. "Terrific. The crooks got away, I'm late for school, and... I've never seen so many goths out in broad daylight." Some of the goth opened mini umbrellas as Sam called out to him.

"Well, look who decided to slum it with the troubled teens." Danny landed as he answered.

"What? I'm not in trouble." Sirens were heard in the distance as Sam continued with a smirk.

"Oh yeah, you're an upstanding citizen. Need to hide from the law?"

"No." But, still, he hid behind some iron drums and reverted back to join Sam in whistling as the cops rushed past with a call.

"Come back here, Inviso-Bill!" They smiled to each other before one of the train cars opened with a ramp as the man known as Freakshow stepped out into the light as he mused.

"Greetings, fellow outcasts. I am Freakshow, your master of ceremonies. Are you ready to smile, relax, and forget all your troubles amid the pleasant diversions of the circus?" He got a definite answer as the goths shouted.

"NO!"

"Then you've come to the right place!" He stepped off the ramp and went among the crowd as he continued. "Prepare to be disturbed and appalled by a small sample of the bizarre and abnormal world of... Circus Gothica!" He gestured back to the car as an arrow fired and embedded itself in a nearby pole, the first performer stepping out like a spider to the goth's gasps and surprise as she crept across the rope, followed by a skull-juggling man on a ball, a heavily-pierced woman bound in a spiked, iron wheel and ending with a man that towered over all as the goths cheered, but Sam was ignorant to Danny falling into a trance once more with the red swirl of the crystal ball that Freakshow held as Sam exclaimed in glee.

"This is the greatest moment ever. Nothing could ruin this for me!" That was a moment in vain as another crowd appeared, at the behest of the Manson's

"Parents of Amity Park! We urge you to boycott this morbid assault on the morals of our children!" The goths boo'd at the crowd as Sam hissed.

"What are they doing here?! Why can't they have day-jobs like regular parents?!" Freakshow took the chance as he exclaimed with landing on a crate among the crowd.

"Don't let the rantings of the closed-minded norms beat you down. Show them your true colors! And when I say 'colors', I mean 'all black'. Make them see you for who you are." The words echoed in Danny's mind as he repeated.

"Make them see us for who we are..." His eyes changed from the swirls to red pupils as he followed the command of the ringmaster. "Hey everyone!" He shouted with waving arms. "Over here! We're Danny Fenton and Sam Manson! We cut school and we're proud of it!" That rallied the goths to cheers as Sam facepalmed to a goth spraying Danny's shirt black as he spoke to the resolved youth.

"You're one of us, now." Sadly, that also involved the parents as the Mansons were concerned.

"Sam?" Once more, Sam facepalmed as she knew where this was going, still not cluing in on what was happening...

* * *

She was not disappointed as Principal Ishiyama lectured the pair of teens and the opposing parents in her office at Casper High. "Some might call this little act of rebellion a cry for attention, but I call it a cry for detention." She chuckled as she continued. "Isn't that clever?"

"Nice job, Danny. Maybe I should have cried 'Hey! It's Inviso-Bill!'" Sam hissed at Danny as he replied, confused of what even just happened and why was his shirt now black.

"I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me back there."

"Bad judgment, that's what!" Jack Fenton huffed as he waved his arm beside his son. "Next time, think before you act!" A small gun emerged from the suit and squirted the Mansons in goo as Jack spoke again. "That's... not right, what even...?" Sadly, the flame was lit as Pam sassed back as both Jeremy and her were glowed in the goo.

"...Obviously, the apple doesn't fall very far from the over-bearing, orange-jump suited tree!" That didn't sway over as Jack shouted.

"YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH JUMP SUITS?"

"Jack, let me handle this. YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH JUMP SUITS?" That was just as bad as Pam made her stand against the pair.

"Samantha, I forbid you from seeing this boy or any of your other troubled friends."

"My friends are perfectly normal!" That couldn't be said as Mr. Lancer opened the door for Tucker, in a Sam attire arrived with a grimace before Ishiyama just rested a hand to her face as she groaned.

"This is so wrong."

* * *

Night came as Freakshow revealed his real colors in the tent. "Slaves! Center ring!" The tall man revealed himself as the dwarf on slits as the juggler surged out of the body to be the brute, the spider reverted to the rubberized ghost and landed to joined as the pierced woman removed her body to revealed the pierced, tattooed ghost as they stood in line as Freakshow spoke with specter in hand. "For generations my family has controlled ghosts with this; untold power and all they could think to do was to entertain the masses, whereas I have found a much more profitable use for you minions." He dug through a chest of jewels, gold, and money that the brute brought forward as Freakshow peered into the orb again. "And as soon as the newest member of our cast joins us, this entire town will be mine for the taking." He continued with a smile. "Also, there is another here that will make this plan all the more greater, but she resists the power so strongly, the Djinn, find her and make her serve." The next day dawned and it found the trio in the library, Cedric, Talia, and Topaz sorting through the books as a additional time of work as Sam moaned with the ticket of Circus Gothica in hand.

"I wanted to experience something horrific and unimaginable. This isn't what I had in mind." Lancer was clipping his toenails there as Cedric did warn him not to do it in the library, but he didn't listen as Danny joined in the muse.

"We can always go to the circus tomorrow. That is, assuming we're not grounded and your parents let me within two-hundred feet of you." Tucker also followed as he was hiding a PDA behind his 'reading'.

"Guess we'll have to settle for the live web-cast of opening night." Freakshow appeared on the device as he exclaimed.

"Creatures of the night, unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica!" That unleashed the trance once more upon Danny as he repeated.

"Unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica..." Talia paused before she touched her skull, Cedric looking at her with concern before slowly helping her to the floor as Danny made to head out, Lancer recovering just as quickly as he inquired to the attempted leave.

"And just where do you think you're going, Mr Fenton?" The red pupils returned and Danny overshadowed Lancer as he spoke through him.

"Unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica..." He walked the teacher into the janitor closet and locking it with a spare key inside as Lancer recovered and shouted from his prison.

"Cask of Amontillado! Let me out, let me out!" Sam recovered to scold her friend.

"Danny, what are you doing? We're in too much trouble as it is!"

"No such thing as too much trouble. Unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica." He left the five in the library with phasing through the ceiling as Tucker mused.

"Man. We better follow him."

"Oh no! But that would mean skipping detention and going to the circus!" Tucker stared to the sarcastic comment as Sam finished. "Hello? Irony." She snatched Tucker's wrist and bolted off. Cedric lingering as he spoke, the flicker of red in Talia's eyes as she groaned, Topaz commenting on the change.

"Man, and I thought I was good, I don't know what the big deal is, it's just a..."

"It's... the scepter..." Talia moaned as Cedric propped her up as the haze lifted. "I... remember once that I was a part of Gothica, but I was spared from it with freedom, but somehow... I can feel its power, its siren call."

"I think that, due to your own control of hypnosis, Topaz, you are immune to this sudden element, but Talia..." Cedric frowned as he just held her. "..I don't think I can let her go right now, I need to keep her grounded." Topaz nodded as she glanced to the door where the duo escaped.

"Dipstick... You were not prepared this time... I'll get you back if Sam can't..." The pair left with eager nature as dusk soon saw the rise of another performance by the Circus Gothica as Freakshow exclaimed.

"Please welcome a performer who puts the 'death' in 'death-defying acts'... the Grim Reaper himself!" High up, a cloaked figure walked the tight rope to the shock of the goths watching before balancing with one hand on the bladed scythe as the cheers filled the air, Sam sneaking in to find Danny before she was discovered. "What are you doing back here?" Sam turned to meet Freakshow's gaze as she was ecstatic to the meeting as she spoke to herself.

"Woah! Freakshow! This is so cool! Focus..." She spoke up as she asked the ringmaster. "Uhm, I'm looking for a friend of mine who was acting kinda weird."

"Oh, that narrows it down to, oh, everyone in this tent!" He laughed it up as the Reaper came over to Freakshow exclaiming. "What are you doing, dolt?! Get back out there and do your encore!" The hood came off as Danny Phantom spoke in confusion.

"Sam?"

"What's that? Was that- was that free will?!" Freakshow exclaimed as he commanded. "Obey me, minion!" The trance fell over Danny once more as Sam realized its meaning and exclaimed herself.

"What? You're controlling him?" But Freakshow left no room for resistance as he commanded.

"Get her." Danny slashed to the soft scream of Sam before the next performance was made as Freakshow reappeared in the center ring as he exclaimed. "Please welcome a brand new vict- talent to the high wire in her first... and final... performance." On the high wire, Sam stood terrified with blindfold on before Danny slashed it off with scythe in hand, she glancing down to the height as she kept her balance somehow as Tucker rushed in to find her up there.

"Sam?" Sam, however, tried to get through the skull of the controlled as she pleaded.

"Danny, listen, you don't wanna do this! You're being controlled!" Her voice fell flat as the rope was cut and Sam fell down to her end, but Danny reverted back before jumping down to save her. The crowd cheered, but Freakshow growled as Danny landed with hand to his face as Sam begged to him. "Danny, don't scare me like that!" But he fell under the control once more as he growled.

"How should I scare you?" He backed off as Freakshow hissed a threat.

"Consider that a warning, girl." He headed off as Tucker exclaimed as he joined Sam.

"Jeez, Sam, you nearly gave me a heart-attack! Can we take time off from your goth-a-palooza and actually look for Danny?"

"That was Danny, under the hood, Freakshow's controlling him with some kind of crystal ball! C'mon!" Tucker followed Sam as they rushed out to get help, but they stopped to the crowd of protesting parents, more exactly the Mansons as Pam spoke to her daughter.

"Sam! Shouldn't you be in detention?"

"Uhm.. Lancer let us out?" Lancer, himself, shouted from his cell as Cedric couldn't get him out without the key and the trio were trying to find it as the Fentons also arrived.

"Are we late for the protest?" They were decked out for the attack as Jack exclaimed.

"I brought the Fenton Riot Gear." The large cannon discharged and destroyed the Mansons' signs as Jack mused again. "That's... not the right setting, it's suppose to be foam..." He tinkered with the weapon as Pam glared at her husband as he answered to the glare.

"What? I didn't invite them." Jack noticed Sam and Tucker and asked a valid question.

"Hey, isn't Danny supposed to be with you?"

"Not according to this restraining order, he's not." Pam answered with a piece of parchment before Maddie mused in confusion, Damian part of the crowd as well while Valerie just watched it happen on the Nasty Burger set.

"Well, he's not here and he's not at school, so where is he?" Sadly, that answer was simple as Danny joined the ghosts in robbing the local museum with Danny the taskmaster as he blasted them with a shout.

"Ecto-butts in gear!" That caused them to yelp from the treatment as Danny just grinned to his controlled fun. "Danny This party's just getting started!" He kept with them as the police arrived to Danny's continued resistance. "Oh please!" He blasted the tires as soon as it was all abuzz on the sets.

"In the wake of parental protest, Circus Gothica ringmaster Freakshow had this challenge to his critics:"

"I invite you to attend a free performance for parents, police, and concerned authority figures. See the show and see for yourselves that we're harmless entertainment."

"In other news, police got a break in the recent rash of mysterious burglaries as security cam footage revealed the ghostly culprits." It showed a feed of Danny and the ghosts robbing the places before destroying the cameras recording it as it finished up with asking about Lancer. "And finally, have you seen this out-of-shape teacher? He was last sighted in the Casper High School library-" The TV was shut off as Sam turned to her laptop connecting to Tucker as he exclaimed.

"Sam, didja catch the news? We gotta do something to save Danny!"

"How ironic is it that I'm stuck under house-arrest while to a free Circus Gothica show?!"

"Only slightly less ironic than the fact that they were right about it being evil." Sam glared about that fact, but didn't linger on it as she dropped a rope ladder out her window and moving to get to the Circus, but was stopped by a familiar face as her grandma inquired.

"And just where do you think you're going, Bubeleh?"

"You don't understand, grandma! My friend is in trouble, and if I don't do something right away-"

"Ya know, I had a wild streak when I was your age." She pulled out a photo album and showed Sam a picture of when she was younger, riding a scooter as Sam inquired.

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Who knows? Maybe I'm old and babbling, or maybe you should sneak out and help your friend while I'm lost in my memories." The goth smiled as she planted a kiss on her grandma's forehead and headed off as she closed the book and took off her top to reveal she was in the same attire as her granddaughter as she beamed. "This is so wrong..." She slapped on a wig as she just continued. "But I dig it!" Going on with the free performance of the Circus, the parents were not made aware of the possible trap as Sam snuck onto the grounds of the train before she yelped to a bat-like shadow, hiding under as it could have been Freakshow, but it was just Tucker as he asked.

"Sam?"

"Tucker?" The tech-wiz crouched down as he greeted her.

"Hey Sam. Is this a great Circus Gothica hat or what?" Sam got up form under the train before slapping the thing off his beret as Tucker answered the question. "I'll take that as an 'or what'." They scaled to the top of the caboose and landed among the gold and jewels stolen before spotting the scepter as Sam exclaimed.

"There's the crystal ball! Let's grab it and-" They didn't get the chance as they were blasted out of the caboose and gasped as Danny soared out with Freakshow joining him before the train blew its whistle and started to pull away as Sam yelled as the pair took off for the train. "Danny! No!"

"Yes, yes, please scream. A shame anyone who might help you is busy enjoying my free show." He laughed as the tattooed ghost went to work scaring the crowd, the tent also trapping them in with brick as Tucker and Sam somehow got to the high rise of some metal beams so they could jump onto the train.

"We have to jump."

"You crazy? I can't jump."

"And I can't abandon Danny." They held tight before jumping getting onto the train as Sam breathed. "Plus, I'll never hear the end of it if my parents learn they're right about him being evil." While the Fentons took care of business at the tent, Sam and Tucker started to get going across the train, but their steps alerted the five on board as Freakshow commanded.

"What are you waiting for? GO!" They headed up as Freakshow purred to his captive in the back. "Not long now, Djinn, soon, you'll be back to where you belong." The three remaining ghosts blocked the pair's continued mission and Danny appeared behind them as Sam and Tucker turned to him as Sam pleaded to the ghosts getting closer, for Danny to come to his senses.

"Danny, it's us, Sam and Tucker! Your best friends, remember?!" The moment was tension before Danny somehow regained focus as he asked.

"Tucker? Sam? I... I..." They beamed as Danny tried to fight. "I..." Suddenly, the control took over once more as he answered with evil intent. "..am a.. ghost. I have no friends." Freakshow had arrived as he called out with scepter in hand.

"Don't waste your breath, children." They turned to him scaling onto the train's top as he mused. "He's under my control now." Suddenly, the air roared a boom of jets before something crashed into the train, denting the previous roof completely and stood up, Sam and Tucker dropping in panic as the figure that emerged from the scorching flame spoke.

"Freakshow..." Cedric had arrived in the Exorcist and the look in his eye shouted murder. "...This is your last stop before Hell." Freakshow didn't believe that as he shouted.

"Don't just stand there, finish them!" The ghosts made to attack, but the dwarf was SMASHED into the car by Cedric's grip, the brute suffered a bad punch into the chest before digging up metal of the train, and the rubber ghost just got twisted up like a pretzel and couldn't get out of it before Phantom made to stop him as well. "You think you can actually win, child? You're dreaming and this is a nightmare." Danny made to charge, but Cedric just backhanded him, a shock-wave erupting from the impact as Cedric answered.

"Yeah, YOUR nightmare." Freakshow made to escape, but a line caught him and ripped him over to Cedric as the teen snatched Freakshow by the neck and ripped the staff out of his hands. "I wonder how much your neck can take before I get you into a brace." Sam's eyes widen on how willing Cedric was with attempting murder as she stood up.

"Exorcist, don't do it, don't be the villain, we know you better than that, don't stoop to his level, you're better than him!" Cedric cast a glance to her and she felt her heart drop that there was no measure of kindness under the visor as Danny stumbled over with a knee down as the three ghosts captured Tucker somehow before Cedric tossed Freakshow forward of the train with force as the Iron Exorcist answered, both hands gripping the scepter.

"This madness, your career, is THROUGH!" He lifted it high before smashing it into the metal, the orb shattering and the fragments falling into the gorge below that they were passing as Danny was the first to recover, the red disappearing from his eyes as Sam rushed over to him.

"Danny.. are you okay?"

"I think so." He rubbed his jaw as he felt it cracked for a second there, despite his ghostly power. "It's all a blur. I did some bad stuff, didn't I?"

"'Nothing you can't fix." They turned to Tucker as he pleaded.

"Good. Now maybe you can convince Tiny here to let go of me?" Thankfully, the ghosts also were freed as the eye-patch ghost, it just being a patch instead of an actual eye-patch, inquired in amaze.

"H-huh? Where are we?"

"Are we free? Finally free?" The dwarf asked as Danny answered.

"Only one way to find out." The ghosts ganged up on Freakshow and dropped him down to where all the loot was as Cedric quickly found the section he was looking for, his suit lighting up the dim car to reveal Talia, struggling to resist the lingering effects of an attempted mind control, before he bent down and lifted her up, holding her close.

"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner." The visor hid his face well, but not well enough as tears started to flow from under the visor. "I am never letting you go again..." Meanwhile, Freakshow pleaded with the four ghosts about to ruin him.

"Okay, uh, when I called you, er, 'minions', it was really a-a term of endearment like-like 'I love my minions!'"

"You wanted a big haul? Try this on for size!" Danny blasted the pile behind Freakshow and toppled the whole thing on him as the train started to come to a stop of a police road block before he quickly inquired. "So, what d'ya say we stick around and explain to the cops we were being controlled by an evil ringmaster?" Instead of flying away first, the ghosts answered.

"I can't really say that."

"We're gonna be seen as crooks, sorry, I ain't taking the chance, kid."

"And Lydia is still on his side, we got to split." The trio quickly left as Danny breathed.

"Ya know, I had a feeling that would be their answer." He phased out of there as well to join up with Sam and Tucker, Cedric taking another route away to get Talia to heal while the police and authorities found Freakshow and all of his 'loot'.

The whole thing was locked down and Freakshow was carted off as the parents of Fenton and Manson praised their children's bravery... and foolishness. "Nice work, kids. You caught that weirdo goth punk thief red-handed!"

"I'm just happy you're all safe!"

"More than safe, they're heroes!"

"We're so proud of you."

* * *

"BUT YOU'RE ALL STILL GROUNDED!" Was the collective answer as Tucker, Danny, and Sam were forced to study as Ida scowled to the behavior.

"Grounded, shmounded! This is cruel and unusual punishment!" Somehow, Sam got another sundress and now wore it as she answered her grandma.

"I know, but it was the only way I could convince them to lift their restraining order on Danny."

"At least Freakshow is in custody and the stolen goods were returned." Danny lightly tapped his jaw and felt no pain now as Tucker questioned.

"So why do I feel like we're forgetting something?" They did as Lancer pleaded from being trapped in the closet still.

"Waiting for Godot, is anybody out there?! This is so wrong!" He sobbed as the door opened to the Janitor pushing his mop in with a neutral face.

"See ya Monday." The door closed and Lancer pounded at the door for it to open before Cedric arrived and breathed with the crack of the neck.

"Here we go, I hope you will avoid the door." Lancer quickly ducked as Cedric slammed a fist into the door and popped the door knob to pieces on both sides, the door swinging open as Cedric glanced to his fist and hummed. "Well, that's a new one, busting locks with shattering knobs, mm-hm."

"There and Back Again! Thank you!" Lancer straightened as he spoke. "Now, I need to teach Mr. Fenton how to..." Cedric lifted the PDA and Lancer watched the video brought up, Phantom broadcasting from a secret location and apologizing for the recent deeds done, admitting that he was only under mind control, but it was still him, so he had no reason to lie about it, but expected everyone to understand the facts before jumping the gun, even apologizing to Lancer for trapping him in a closet while in the trance, that cleared the water for them all as Phantom was a force for good, not evil in any way...


	21. S2 - Memory Blank

The day started out rather well as Sam exclaimed to her friends. "Guys, come on! We're gonna be late for school!" Sadly, it was a lost battle as Sam tried to get the attention of her two friends while the trio of Cedric, Talia, and Topaz just watched it happen as the goth did try. "Guys? Guys!" Danny broke the silence as he spoke to Tucker.

"Isn't it everything I told you it would be and more?"

"You did not lie, dude. You did not lie." They stood in the parking lot of a car dealership and looming before them was a titan of a monster truck as both beamed over it.

"The Gi-Normo Six-Thousand." Sam stomped over before reading over what made it so great.

"Seats made of owl leather? Interior wood paneling made from the Amazon rain-forest? Twelve gallons to the mile?!"

"That sounds like a murder on the basics of nature." Talia and Topaz nodded to Cedric's thought as Sam continued in her rant.

"This car is an environmental nightmare!" She jumped down as an idea came to her. "I know what you should do!"

"No." Danny answered as Sam tried to get him on board, maybe even the girls.

"You could totally haunt this place! Scare people away from here and make them buy something else!"

"No." Tucker joined Danny's side as he countered back.

"Cut it out, Sam. It's a cool truck! Besides, this would not be the first time one of your bad ideas got Danny into trouble."

"What are you talking about?"

"Might I remind of... the Portal?" Cedric answered as they thought back to it.

* * *

(FLASHBACK)

Sam had joined Danny, Tucker, and Cedric down in the lab as she cheered. "Smile!" She snapped a pic of Danny, holding a black and white jumpsuit with the icon of Jack on the front of it, in front of the latest and greatest failure of the Fentons, the Ghost Portal, a passageway into the Ghost Zone which was suppose to be the reverse of their world. It printed out as Danny blinked the flash out of his eyes as he questioned.

"Okay. I showed you the Portal, can we get out of here now?" Danny asked as the trio of friends walked over to him and his black-collar jumpsuit. "My parents could be back here any minute. Besides, they say it doesn't work anyway." But Sam was insistent as she walked over to the archway and mused.

"Come on, Danny. A Ghost Zone? Aren't you curious? You gotta check it out."

"He really doesn't." Cedric answered as he rolled a wrist, looking rather bare, but that was because he couldn't bring his BB gun down for protection, it had to stay home. Danny joined her and accept her interest, also it sounded cool too.

"You know what? You're right. Who knows what kind of awesome, super-cool things exist on the other side of that Portal?" He slipped on the jumpsuit, the boots and gloves black while the rest was white, and zipped it up, the sticker of Jack Fenton apparent on his chest before Sam stepped over to him.

"Hang on..." She took a hold on the sticker and tore it off, no one really questioning how the sticker even stayed on like it did with a zip there. "You can't go walking around with that on your chest." The trio watched as Danny turned to the Portal and walked in.

He looked around the interior of it as he ran a hand over the wall before he pressed something, eyes flashing to it as the 'on/off' controls as the Portal powered up, Cedric's call of concern unheard as Danny was electrocuted in his screaming and his body changed in the sudden green of the Portal, inverting his colors to white gloves, boots, collar, and hair while the suit turned blacked and his eyes were no longer blue, they were green...

(END FLASHBACK)

* * *

The five glanced to Sam as she remarked. "How's it bad I was there? If it wasn't for me, he'd be flying around with his dad's face on his chest." That was beside the point as they rolled their eyes to Sam's continued attack on 'authority'. "Know how you can say thank you? By crushing a few trucks!" She said as she gestured to one of the trucks as Danny countered with a valid reason.

"Sam, I'm the good guy! So unless these super-awesome trucks are being used for evil, I *can't* do anything."

"Except wonder if it's got a GPS satellite guidance system." Tucker swooned as Danny joined.

"And rims."

"Big, spinning rims." Sam turned away as she grumbled.

"Oh, I give up." She stomped off as the trio watched her go, mumbling under her anger. "I just wish somebody would destroy these stupid trucks!" In an instant, Talia's eyes turned red as she spoke.

"And so you have wished it, so shall it be!" Her hands glowed pink and she blasted it at the giant cow on the nearby 'Daisy's Dairy Diner', it coming alive before the red faded and she gripped her head as Cedric caught her in confusion.

"Talia...?" Danny and Tucker were still swooning over one of the trucks as Danny asked himself.

"I wonder what this button does." He pressed the button on the truck and no sooner did he, then the truck getting totaled and the pair bounced back to the angry- red-eyed titan of a cow as both got back up against another truck before Danny found his nerve as he protested against the beast. "Get away, fiend! Whatever you do, leave this truck alone!" The cow had other plans as it turned and primed its udders, Danny looking surprised before both were blasted with hot milk as Tucker groaned.

"Aw, man! I just became lactose intolerant!" Another blast doused them as Cedric narrowed his brow at what just happened, it seemed like... Desiree just accepted Sam's wish without resistance, something was very wrong...

* * *

The six friends headed down the street with Topaz joining the ranks of the soaked as Tucker beamed at them both. "Good job beating the big cow, guys."

"Yeah, well, it hasn't stopped Sam from busting our chops about cruelty to un-living plastic animals." Danny answered with some scorn as Sam returned volley.

"I had to choose between fake cows and evil trucks. The cow won." She stopped with a gasp as she spotted a promo of a new movie coming. "Oh my gosh, I almost forgot!" She rushed over and beamed with glee of the movie. "Trinity of Doom is out this Friday!" Cedric HAD heard of it before, the ultimate clash between the greatest killers in cinema history, from the alien hunter, always on the chase for the most excellent prize, the robot form the future on a rampage against humans, and to the nightmare-driven serial killer who roamed the dreams of her victims before the death in real life. "Femalien, Terminatra, and Nightmerica!" She beamed in glee as she was so excited. "All my favorite female movie monsters, in _one_ film!" The five joined her in looking at it before Tucker spoke.

"So it's a chick flick?" Topaz spared no mercy for Tucker for how dare he mock Femalien, that's a classic, as she just slapped him across the back of the head, the 'Gibbs Slap' Talia and Cedric believed it was called as Danny remarked with looking at his soaked form.

"Oh, duh!" He turned intangible and the milk dropped off him in a puddle as Tucker voiced his want as well with crossed arms, disregarding the slap he just suffered.

"Hello?" Danny reached and turned Tucker intangible as well as the milk pooled out, Topaz rolling her eyes before she focused and the puddle grew as Tucker smiled with satisfaction before Sam busted their chops about the movie.

"Not just _a_ chick flick, _the_ chick flick." She clenched her hands as he beamed once more. "The three biggest female box office monsters battling it out in a big-budget special-effects bonanza!" She pumped before she turned to Danny as she spoke once again. "And since you promised we'd all go on Friday, I bought us tickets." She beamed in pride before another voice spoke.

"Danny?" The party turned to Paulina walking across the street to them as Sam donned a look of apprehension as the Hispanic cheerleader. "You never told me whether or not you were coming to my Quinceañera on Friday." Danny answered with confusion as he took the paper that she handed him.

"That's because when you invited me, I thought you were joking."

"And that you forgot to invite me." Another 'Gibbs Slap' for the geek as Sam, irked with Paulina, replied in quiet anger.

"And remembered not to invite me."

"Basically, it's just the status quo we have faced with the populars and not-populars, Sanchez." Cedric pointed as he continued. "You like to keep the status quo up, you know." She was surprised, but laughed it off as she answered.

"Oh, no, silly. You're _all_ invited!" She shrugged with showing the invite briefly, reading '_Paulina's Party, 15th Birthday Meteor Shower_' to which Talia looked pale as the invites were handed to the five of them as Tucker cheered.

"Yes!"

"No!" Sam growled as Paulina looked to Danny as he asked.

"Really?"

"Really." She gestured to them as she continued. "I knew Danny wouldn't come if I didn't invite you five, but I especially want Danny to be there." The look in her eyes was dreamily, as if she wanted it to happen as Danny stammered.

"Me?"

"Of course. My Papa is throwing the party at the country club, and it's happening on the same night as a meteor shower." She then quickly went on a tangent about the whole thing. "And I really want that ghost boy to be there. And since the ghost boy seems to show up wherever you do, I figured I had no choice but to invite you and your loser friends!"

"Hey, we're right here, you know." Tucker huffed.

"Yeah, I know." She was clearly unfazed by the notion as Cedric just shrugged to the idea with Talia looking still unnerved about it while Topaz hummed with tapping the rolled up paper to her chin. Paulina headed off as Danny exclaimed.

"The ghost boy?" He called out to her as he assured her. "Oh, he'll be there, Paulina! I promise!" Sam spoke otherwise as she directed their attention to the poster while gripping the invite tightly.

"Uh, guys? Movie? Friday? Non-refundable tickets?!" Danny retorted back with glancing to the invite.

"Oh, come on, Sam, we never get invited to these parties."

"And I don't get to go if he doesn't go!" Sam was firm in her standing before both went into a pleading notion.

"Pretty please with those dark licorice sprinkles with the black frosting you like with those little gummy bats on top?" They did this with curled hands and pinching motions before Sam caved and she groaned.

"All right, all right!" Both of the boys clapped as the trio just rubbed their temples in disbelief before bolted off and Sam got one last musing from Danny as he asked.

"You're coming to the party too, right?" She answered halfheartedly, as if to keep him happy.

"Yes, I'll be there." Danny was pleased as he took off again before Sam mused to herself, smiling to a small loophole. "I'll be there, unless something should happen to Paulina, and then the party got cancelled." She headed off with a smile as she finished. "Not that I'd wish that." She headed off, but Talia froze up again as the red returned with Talia's voice reverting to Desiree's sultry tones, Topaz and Cedric stopping as well from heading home to see Talia do just that.

"Well, she did say 'wish'." She laughed with mischief as she blasted the movie poster, unleashing three threats to Paulina's safety to cancel the party, the magic ending as Talia regained focus and dropped as Cedric rushed over as Topaz exclaimed.

"What the Zone was that!?"

"I don't know, but I do know this..." Cedric answered as he glanced to Topaz. "I think that the following days are going to be taxing Talia too much, we need to keep her under lock and key..." He lifted her up slowly as he finished. "I just hope that we can keep her as such... for who knows how long..." They headed off to school, hoping that whatever was going to happen, they could deal with.

* * *

Class started with Lancer commenting about the coming meteor storm. "Thousands of meteors will be visible in the skies of Amity Park this Friday. People tend to wish upon these 'falling stars' without realizing that at the speeds they're falling, they could drill through your tiny skulls like they were wet toilet paper!" Sadly, it just went over all of their heads as Sam huffed as she doddled in her book, making a ghostly figure before circling a unique mix of a slanted D, three points flowing behind it, and a negative space of a P, liking the look of it and that it stood for her best friend before Paulina spoke up with glee, clasped hands in dreamy notions.

"Papa says the stars are falling on my birthday just for me." She raised her hands as well. "And I'm going to wish to meet the ghost boy, and if one of the meteors flies towards me, the ghost boy could save me!" Dash, bring bored joined in as he ranted.

"Huh? Uh yeah, you know what I'd wish for? He flexed his arms as Danny just raised a brow to him. "Extra arms to catch more footballs!" He crouched down and glanced to Danny with a point. "And to wail on you, Fen-ton." He straightened as he just smiled. "But that doesn't technically count as a wish because, I can do that anytime." The raised palm turned into a fist as he finished. "Watch!" A textbook slammed into Dash's head from the top, Cedric its holder as Dash backed down as Cedric spoke, lifting the book with one hand.

"Baxter, I hope you have been playing *nice* and not trying to get on my nerves again, are you?"

"N-No!"

"Good." He headed off as Danny huffed in disbelief.

"Honestly, he is being too protective, he could have reigned in this school somehow." Suddenly, his ghost sense went off as the ceiling rumbled before something crashed through, landing and all seeing the beast as it was Femalien, from the movie poster, as it straightened up to everyone's panic as it was dressed in minor armor, black loincloth, tube top, ankle bands, metal neck brace while the right hand sported a jagged blade while the left had a blaster. The thing had growth-like hair in two pigtails, his jaw protruded tusks, and it was down right menacing as he hissed for one victim.

"Paulina!" Dash found his courage to ask as he was scared out of his mind about the whole thing, Paulina looking back at him for the question.

"Uh, did it just say your name?" Paulina acknowledged with glee, as if this was an average day for her.

"Neat!" Lancer, however, was not going to let it slide as he shouted with fire extinguisher in hand.

"War of the Worlds, creature! Get away from my youthful charges!" He got its attention, but in more rage as it growled with the extinguisher just barely doing anything before Lancer answered meekly. "Well, I tried." He beamed in the face of doom before shouting. "_RUN_!" He dropped the extinguisher and pulled the fire alarm as everyone ran for it with Femalien after them, Danny bracing behind some cover before both transformed. The rings formed Phantom while the Exorcist developed across the body before bolted for their target. Lucky, their target was focused on a certain popular as it crashed through the walls and charged, blades at the ready before both tackled it into the floor as Paulina exclaimed.

"Ghost boy, metal guy, wait! I have invites for you." But, the message was lost as they crashed into an office and Danny backed up, only to get the tail end of Femalien smacking him away and into the wall before the beast wrestled with Cedric as he exclaimed.

"This thing is pushing with some horsepower, no wonder these things were so tough to even injure in the movies." He pumped and turned the tables before smashing the beast into the floor as Danny recovered and soared over as he demanded, the blaster getting knocked away from launching darts at the Demi.

"All right, gruesome. What do you want? Who sent you?" A name slipped form the creature's mouth.

"Saaaaam…" Both looked astonished as the beast just faded away, neither noticing that Talia slipped in, eyes glowing red before flying away. A new problem arose and they had to talk to their friends about it.

* * *

They sat at the park with Valerie as Danny recounted the encounter as Valerie questioned. "So after you two beat it down, it said 'Sam'?"

"Actually, it was more like,-" He lifted his arms and tried to talk in the hissing sound that the ghost was using. "-'Saaaaam…'-" He lowered them as he finished. "-but you get the point." Sam didn't take it well as she look incredulous about the possible accusation.

"You can't really blame _me_ for this; can you?" Danny answered back as he assured her, Cedric rubbing his jaw on the notion and how... Talia wasn't anywhere now which was strange, the two were a pair in the public eye.

"Well, it's got something to do with you, but don't worry." He beamed with his heroic duty. "I saved Paulina, so you don't have to apologize."

"Good. 'Cause I'm not gonna." But that was not the end of it as Danny fished through his pack and pulled out a familiar piece of tech.

"You're just gonna have to wear this Specter Deflector and stay out of the way." He affixed it to her waist as she exclaimed with offense of what exactly he was doing.

"What?"

"Sam, something weird is going on and you're clearly the cause of it." Danny huffed with scorn before calming down. "It's probably better for all of us if you just lay low." He motioned with his hands from high to low as Tucker joined in the agreement.

"Yeah, Sam. You should just lay low." He said with a mocking tone before getting a double Gibbs Slap to his head as Valerie beamed as the geek's forehead hit the table.

"That is actually really fun, let's doing it to him for any *wrong* phrases." Topaz gave a thumbs up as Tucker groaned before Danny's and Topaz's ghost sense went off and a scream was heard as Danny exclaimed.

"Paulina? Again?" He huffed as he primed himself again. "This is going to have to wait." He stood on the seat as he spoke. "I'm going ghost!" Both Exorcist and Topaz joined in changing as Danny gave an order. "Stay here."

"Oh, I will. I promise." Sam innocently assure them as they bolted for Paulina before she went scrounging for her backpack and shouted at them. "The same way you kept your promise about going to the movies Friday!" Tucker just beamed as he got more food. As for Paulina, she was being chased down by Terminatra who was running across the buildings in pursuit of the scooter-riding girl with a dress in hand as it fired a blast at her, getting the edge of the bag as the cheerleader shouted back.

"Hey, I just got this back from the cleaners!" She sped up as the cyborg threat jumped, wrecking the street before developing a rocket on it's back and continuing the chase as Paulina made it to the park and moaned in grief. "This is, like, the worst birthday week ever!"

"Well, let's see if we can't change that a little." Danny answered as he arrived with his partners as Paulina beamed in the arrival.

"And now it's _not_!" Danny turned with a blast to knock the cyborg out of the air, but it passed through a hole that form before the droid changed into a net of metal as Paulina ruined the moment. "Wait, let me give you this." She held up a invite as she spoke. "If I invite you, I can un-invite Danny Fenton and his loser friends!" Danny exclaimed.

"_What_?"

"Not cool, girl!"

"Heads up!" Exorcist dropped for Topaz and Danny getting caught, slamming into the fountain and getting electrode before Terminatra tossing the both of them into the fountain. Both reverted back as Terminatra reformed and somehow improved the mechanical arm as Exorcist groaned. "Why is it ever a Ten-Twenty Model, those things are hellish to even stop, even the Nine-Seventy was outmatched for a time."

The cupped metal turned to the pair with a white glow before another voice shouted. "Leave them alone!" Sam charged on the motor scooter before engaging the Specter Deflector, enveloping her before ramming into the cyborg, dealing crippling damage to the model before getting shocked even more as both looked at it and it looked back at the before it answered in a robotic tone.

"Saaaaam…" The metal skeleton was revealed before Terminatra, too, faded into nothing before Sam answered with glee as Cedric joined them.

"Man, you're right! That Specter Deflector works like a charm." Danny nodded as he got up and walked over with speaking, Topaz getting pulled out by Cedric.

"Nice save! Although, to be fair, I probably wouldn't have needed it if it weren't for you in the first place." He took Sam's hand, just to get shocked and toppled away as Sam huffed in disbelief.

"Uh, excuse me?" She answered in difference as he leaned forward and gestured to herself. "I save your butt and you're giving me grief?" Danny also was getting annoyed as he answered back.

"Welcome to my world, remember?" He pointed out Sam's points across the times. "'We should make the menu recyclo-vegetarian!', 'We should let the gorilla out!', 'We should sell all of your dad's stuff at a garage sale!' He crossed his arms as the pair glanced between the two as the fight started to boil over, their first 'fight'.

"Anything else you want to blame me for? World hunger? The ice age? Puberty?"

"Sam, both monsters knew your name." Danny arched his brows as he pointed out the common connection. "Either there's another Sam involved in ghost fighting or it's you." Sam growled as she retorted back.

"How about a 'thank you', huh?" She straightened as she crossed her arms. "You think Paulina would've saved your butt back there?"

"She would if she wanted me to come to her party!" Danny answered with standing up as Sam groaned loudly as she headed off with a passing jab.

"Danny, I swear. There are days I wish I had never even met you!" She sped off on the scooter as the three watched her go. Danny breathed as he groaned.

"Way to go, Fenton. You just ticked off one of the only five real friends you have." He had gestured down the way before pulling out the invite as Cedric patted his shoulder

"I guess we should have seen this coming, Sam is headstrong about her opinion, so it is not a first."

"Yeah, Dipstick, she is just upset with everything right now, let her cool off for a bit." Still, he looked at the flyer before he shouted after her.

"Sam! Wait!" Both Demi's senses went off and the three turned to the bubbling pink that was coming from the fountain before pink mist started to bellow up and a laugh echoed in the air before it formed into Talia's old form of a harem girl ghost, but larger than before as she exclaimed.

"Finally!"

"Talia?" Danny answered as he transformed with Topaz, the tension heavy somehow as he spoke. "You look different."

"More powerful?" She answered in glee with clapping her palms. "Why, yes! The more wishes I grant, the more powerful I get!" She resumed the evil laughter as she continued, the idea of the shower giving her utter delight to the fearful looks of Danny and Topaz, Cedric grimacing to the sudden turn. "Oh, and only days away from the meteor shower where _everybody_ will be making wishes!" She pumped her fist before striking out, the party disbanding from the attack as Topaz exclaimed.

"Tal, what are you doing, this isn't you!"

"I am Desiree and what I want is you, Ghost boy, out of the way by Friday night." She beamed as she continued in leaning toward Danny. "But it's not about what I want. It's about what your little friend wants." She was thrilled with the change as she exclaimed in evil glee. "And she just wished she never met you!" Realization crossed Danny's face as he nearly yelped.

"Oh. Oh no!"

"And so she has wished it, and so it shall _BE_!" She unleashed a ray of pink at Danny and the world faded away to black as Danny screamed, all of the work done by Danny Phantom now gone, done in by the shout of rage among friends and, by extension, gone are the works of the Iron Exorcist...

* * *

The day started out as any other as a school bell rang and a trio of nerds were shoved into a locker by the hands of Kwan and Dash as Dash admired their handiwork. "This _could_ be a new record." The football player looked ot his friend as he continued. "But there's still room for more!" He pointed down the way. "Go get Mikey." He suddenly donned a haunted look as he finished. "But be careful, HE could still be somewhere to break us." Kwan nodded as he headed off to get Mikey while Danny and Tucker spoke to each other.

"So, what do you want to do tomorrow?"

"I don't know." He strolled through the PDA to find nothing on it as he answered. "According to my PDA, we're free every night through college." Sam arrived with a beaming smile as she greeted the both of them.

"Hi." But Danny's answer threw her off.

"Do I know you?" Sam lowered her brows as she mused on the 'sarcastic' reply.

"Oh, very cute. I said I'd wished we never met, and now you're pretending we didn't meet." She scoffed as she continued. "You're hilarious."

"No, seriously, do I know you?" A pit dropped in Sam's stomach as Danny's answer was the same before Tucker joined in, she hoping that he would treat her the same.

"And more importantly, Would you like to know me?" He sprayed his mouth with breath fresher to her surprise as he introduced himself. "Hi. I'm Tucker. Tucker Foley. That's TF." He pointed to her as he finished. "As in 'Too Fine'." Sam shuttered as she exclaimed to the treatment.

"Oh, gross! Are you hitting on me?" The action down the way was a bit more chaotic as Mikey was shoved into the locker before he exclaimed.

"I wish somebody would show you what this feels like!" Dash and Kwan were proud of their act, but another made her presence known as she slipped from the vents and spoke with a smile.

"So you have wished it…" She beamed before trailing off in boredom, referring to some other force. "So, you know the rest." She blasted Mikey as he erupted into a reptile beast, Dash and Kwan screaming as Desiree grew in power and strength before soaring over to the trio, Tucker taking off as she towered over Danny who was shaking before uttering a single word. "Boo!"

Danny cowered as he yelped in fear. "Ghost!" Desiree took off as she mused.

"No memory, no powers. Perfect." Sam stepped over quickly as she exclaimed.

"That's Desiree! The Wishing Ghost! I thought she was a Demi now!" She turned to Danny as she ranted to him to do something as he stopped shaking to confusion. "Danny, you've gotta do something." But he did nothing as she forced him to turn to her as she pleaded. "Why aren't you going ghost?" Danny pushed her away as he vocally shouted back.

"Look, kid. I don't know who you are or what you're talking about." He gave a shrug before escaping in fear. "All I know is, I am outta here!" Mikey's monster form shoved the pair of jocks into a locker as Dash pleaded.

"We're sorry! We're sorry!" Mikey reverted back before slamming the locker shut as he cheered.

"I rock!" He booked it away as Sam took to opening Danny's locker, remembering the combo to it before finding a sight that cursed her heart to pieces.

"Oh no." She pulled off the piece of Tucker and Danny together, no sign of Sam or Cedric as he retrieved her book or 'DIARY' in regret. "Last night I wished Danny had never met me." She compared the two photos together as she was in disbelief. "And Desiree must've made it so we never met!" The compare was real as her photo had the four of them together with Cedric leaning on Danny as Sam was behind the two guys with hands on their shoulders, but the altered one only had them with a wide open space as she moaned. "Which means he never got his powers, Cedric was never our friend, and there is no Talia or Topaz, just Desiree here!" She exclaimed as she chased off Danny to get him to listen.

"Danny! You've got to listen to me!" She chased after him down to Fenton Works as he didn't believe her at all, even refused to hear a thing about Cedric as, without her being there, back in first grade, Cedric developed a authoritarian command, EVERYONE feared him and Lancer was shown HUNDREDS of times his folly as she pleaded to Danny to believe. "Why won't you believe me?" Danny answered back as he spoke in a incredulous fashion.

"Believe what? That I had super powers?" He pointed at her as she succeed in catching up. "You and I are best friends even though I never met you? And you're the only one that knows it?"

"Yes!" Danny headed up into the house as Sam pleaded to him from the bottom of the sloop. "Isn't that crystal clear?" The door slammed shut and Sam grimaced as she turned to think of some way to get him to listen to her. "I've gotta do something to get him to listen to me." She started to think of some way to get him to do just that. "But how do I get through the thick head of a fourteen-year-old boy?" An idea popped up and she groaned to it as she just sighed. "Oh, darn it." Sadly, she had to do it, her parents' way...

* * *

Danny and Tucker met at the pharmacy, having ice cream as Sam approached them. "Hi." She said with a half-hearted interest as she was no longer a goth, but instead a 'preppy, happy-go-lucky' girl in leg warmers, a white skirt with polka dots, turtleneck, a garish amount of makeup, and a pink bow on her head as she asked in the same tone. "Mind if I join you?" Both boys were flabbergasted that a portion of their ice cream dropped on the table before Danny chucked his and shoved Tucker off his seat as he beamed to Sam while Paulina and Star just looked gleeful to the change.

"She surrendered her individuality for a boy! I'm so proud of her!" Sam went to work as she pulled out the photos before directing Danny's attention to them.

"So, this is a photo I have of the three of us. From eighth grade. This is the same one you have in your locker." She was pleading in her mind to get him to understand what was going on. "Notice anything?"

"Yeah. You broke into my locker and doctored an old photo of me." He dreamily rested his chin on his hand as he continued. "You must really like me." He also had a second option. "Or you're nuts." He looked to her as he asked, though nuts should have been the answer if she claimed to know Tracer. "You're not nuts, are you?" Sam groaned as he stood up with pulling Danny over to see the photos.

"Focus!" He read through it to see what the big deal is before he stopped, recognizing the surrounding area of it.

"Wait a minute. That's my parent's lab!" Curious, he lifted the book and flipped through the pages, someone flying, him and Tucker sleeping at what must have been a zoo, and him standing in front of the Fenton Portal, that machine that didn't work. He whipped to Sam as he inquired, having also seen the face of Tracer, but less... marked up. "Who _are_ you?" Sam replied as she explained it to him again.

"I'm Sam Manson. A few months ago, I convinced you to go into this." She pointed to the green swirl that was somehow contained in the Portal as she went on. "You went in there, there was an accident, and you got-"

"Super powers?"

"Actually, ghost powers." She lifted her arms as she went on. "But we had a fight, and I wished we'd never met and that ghost in the school made it happen!" She reached down and took off the Specter Deflector to show it to him as she spoke. "I was wearing this, which is why I think the ghost didn't affect me… But you don't have your powers anymore!" Any more was lost as a haunting voice bellowed.

"Paulina…" The wall suffering a sawing green claw before it toppled away to Nightmerica, husky woman dressed in black pants, striped sweater, and black fedora with a pair of metal claws adorning her hands. The place into a panic as Paulina was the target as Sam turned to get Danny going.

"Danny, you gotta-" She stopped before she decided to take the helm. "Actually, _I_ gotta!" She clasped the belt on, activating it as she quickly snatched Tucker's beret and cut it up to closely resemble Valerie's Huntress mask with holes for her eyes before pulling out another device of Fenton works, the Jack-O-Nine Tails before she readied to whip it, accidentally hitting someone first as she apologized. "Sorry!" She lashed it out and grabbed Nightmerica, pulling her over to her and away from the panicking Star and Paulina as she grunted with effort as Danny mused in amaze.

"That, might just be the coolest girl on the planet."

"Or she's nuts. Really, really nuts." The nightmare attacker broke free from the bindings, but Sam was not so done in as she pulled out an active Fenton Thermos and blasted, capturing the ghost just as easily as Danny and Tucker walked over to her as she pulled off the makeshift mask.

"That happen a lot?"

"More than you remember." Danny agreed as, if a girl he just met could face off with an actual ghost and win, her word was in the very least true.

"Okay, you got my attention."

"Finally!" Sam cheered with ecstatic before ripping off the pink mess, revealing her goth clothes underneath, with only the sneakers, leg warmers, makeup, and bow remaining as she took Danny's wrist. "Come on." She dragged him out with Tucker following behind as they met back at Fenton Works during the night, Tucker keeping a look out for the Fenton parents as he spoke.

"All clear, Danny."

Danny nodded as he stood at the opening of the inactive Ghost Portal before he answered. "Cool." He looked over to Sam as he asked. "How's it going over there?" Sam turned the dials as he answered.

"Pretty good." She set them all to the two-o-clock position as she finished up. "I'm guessing if we set everything the way it was when it happened, it'll happen again." She paused as she turned to Danny. "Are you sure about this?" Danny rubbed his head as he answered.

"No." But he motioned on the side of concern. "But you saw those things, those -monsters, -_ghosts!_" He pointed behind him again as he continued. "Those ghosts were attacking our school." He breathed as he faced fully into the tech and machines before him. "Besides, I always wanted to go in here. Who knows what kind of awesome, super-cool things exist on the other side of that portal?" Taking the jumpsuit, Sam tossed it to Danny before he pulled it up to Sam activating the machine with the zipper going up. "Well, here goes everything." Sam stopped him as she spoke up with a sticker in hand.

"Wait a minute." She pulled off Jack's face before planting the new sticker on, the slanted D with a negative space form of the P as Danny asked in confusion.

"Uh, what is that?"

"Just trust me, okay?" Danny was assured as he glanced into the Portal and walked into it, looking around before resting his hand on some switch and then came the surge as he screamed, the friends bracing as Danny wailed in pain as Danny Fenton changed into Phantom with the ghost DNA merging with his before it came to a stop and he stumbled out in pain as Sam rushed over as she exclaimed. "Danny, are you-?" She tried to lift him, but he went intangible on her and she gasped as the wisps returned to Danny. "You're a ghost! Again!"

"You're right! I am a ghost! Cool!" He was confused as he asked. "Is this cool?" Sam rested a hand to her emblem on Danny, it now a white D on a black jumpsuit.

"Oh, it's very cool."

"What's going on down there?" Jack's voice bellowed as both flinched before Sam exclaimed.

"Oh man, your dad!" She yelped in urgency as she pleaded to Danny. "You've got to change back to normal!"

"Change back? How?" For once, Sam was hoping that Cedric could have helped in a short time.

"I don't know, you just think about it or something!" Suddenly, she hit gold on one detail she slightly remembered. "Wait, ghosts feel emotions less often, surge your happiness, joy, love, something, just surge it!" Jack peered down before stomping down the steps before looking around before gasping to Danny Fenton kissing a confused Sam Manson right in front of the Portal making a heart shape before both stopped and he whispered.

"I call that a 'fake-out make-out'."

"Yeah, I know." Sam answered with a blush before both stood up as Jack scolded them both.

"You're in a lot of trouble, mister! And who the heck are you?"

"Uh, I'm-" She stopped with a good one as she answered with it. "Paulina?"

"Then Danny Fenton is never, ever allowed to see you, Paulina." But Sam just beamed as she just removed Paulina as a possible problem when this was all over hopefully.

* * *

The following day, Danny and Sam conversed as he asked.

"So now what?" But, since he didn't have full control yet, despite the late training and management, his hand was going intangible.

"I don't know. I'm sorta making this up as we go along." He phased through the chair and toppled to the ground, causing everyone to laugh at him before Lancer towered over his fallen form as he scolded him.

"Mr. Fenton, I know astronomy can be dull, but I'd appreciate it if you'd not take a nap in my class!" He pointed a finger up as he finished up, Danny getting up from the position. "And remember the meteor shower tonight. Don't forget to watch. And wear a helmet." He answered proudly as he continued. "It's a once in a lifetime experience." As soon as he arrived to his desk, the students booked it, except Tucker, Sam, Danny, Paulina, Star, and Dash as the quarterback asked.

"What are _you_ gonna wish for?"

"I don't know. But I'm sure with everybody wishing at the same time, somebody will give me an idea." Sam grimaced to the meaning as she remarked.

"Oh no. That's what Desiree wants! To grant all those wishes at the same time! This is bad." She turned to an annoyed Danny, slipping through the floor as he exclaimed.

"And this is worse." He paused before inquiring something. "Hey, why is there all this meat down here?"

* * *

They moved out to the Country Club where the most wishes were going to be made as Sam commented, from a pair of binoculars to the 'near-human' behavior of Paulina. "Wow. She almost seems human. _I'm_ going to have to forget that." A shooting star soared by as Sam exclaimed in the plan. "A falling star! All right, Danny. Do your thing. And remember, nobody make a wish!"

"Okay." More started to fall as Danny shouted. "I'm… going to become ghostly!"

"It's 'going ghost'. Sam corrected, but Danny just expressed disagreement to the phrase.

"Nah." He transformed before getting into trouble with his body going all wavy while, down below, everyone started to wish.

"I wish I had one of those sweet monster trucks." Sam scolded the stuffing out of Tucker for NOT listening!

"Do you pay attention? To anything? At all? Ever?" Sam didn't get too much in before Desiree reappeared, conjuring a Gi-Normo Six-Thousand right by them as Tucker remarked.

"This doesn't seem very monstrous." Sadly, the truck came alive and attacked as Tucker booked it away with the beast after him as Desiree floated over the cliff face as she chanted in praise.

"Keep wishing, fools! Keep wishing!" She grew in size as Danny started to panic.

"What do I do? What do I do?"

Sam didn't leave much room for Danny to work with as she exclaimed. "You fight her! And then you use this!" She tossed the Thermos to Danny as he just questioned.

"For what, soup?" Honestly, it was a mess, Sam just questioned how they even were able to catch most of the ghosts in the first place. It was certainly a surprise for Desiree for Danny Phantom to have returned, but he was badly inexperienced and Sam was captured by evil shrubbery as the ecto blast that should have come from his hand, came out the butt which was messed up before Sam grimaced to how it all just turned out so wrong as Danny couldn't do anything now against an almighty ghost who getting souped up with wishes.

Guilt overwhelmed her as she spoke. "Oh, this is all my fault. I wish I had never fought with Danny!" Suddenly, realization hit her as she also should have realized what that entailed with Desiree about to mash Danny Fenton into paste. "And she's granting every single wish she hears." She leaned forward as she shouted. "I wish Danny and I never had that fight! And I wish Danny, Tucker, Cedric, Topaz, Talia, and I remembered everything and his costume stays the way it is because I really, really like it!" Desiree accepted that command as she held up her hands and commanded.

"So you have wished it… And so it shall be!" The aura filled Danny as the flashes of his life flew through him, he remembered everything... even the parts that he was just being a dorky teen as it faded just as quickly, but he regained his standing before blasting the Thermos as Desiree shouted. "No! No! Noooooo!" She was pulled fully into the Thermos and moaned as she spoke. "I am going to be feeling THAT in the morning." Just for safety, Danny capped it as the wishes that she had made disappeared, even the truck that Tucker wanted as Danny twisted the cap as Sam approached him, he paused before he pulled at his jumpsuit to the icon of a slanted D on it as he asked.

"Did you do something to my costume?"

"No. It's… always been like that." She shrugged innocently as Tucker also breathed in relief.

"Oh, man, that was close." Danny bent down to pick up the Thermos to Tucker flinching as he spoke. "Watch where you're pointing that thing!" The party resumed as it had also been as Tucker questioned. "Um, weren't we invited to that party?"

"Yeah. And now that everything's back to normal, she's sort of expecting a visit from the ghost boy." Sam turned to Danny as she spoke. "You should probably keep your promise." Danny held up a finger as he answered.

"Yeah, I probably should. But, I can't join the party, my invite is ruined and I recall that 'any damaged invite' is null on the premises, also I didn't take the invite when I was Phantom, so Paulina has lost her chance." The trio turned as the Exorcist arrived with Topaz and both... looked pissed as Sam slowly got up and offered the Thermos to him.

"I am sorry, Cedric..." The free hand gripped tight as Sam started to babble. "I know that this doesn't make up for the wish, and I am sorry for doing that to all of us..." Danny and Tucker watched in shock as Sam started to snuffle and wiped at her eyes in grief. "But most of all, I'm sorry for just being bull-headed, for trying to keep things my way, I am just as selfish as Paulina and I don't want to lose our friendship like that... never again." She clung to Exorcist who still stood still to her continued grief and sobbing before Topaz rested a hand on his shoulder with a sympathetic look, she was just pissed that she was dealing with her ghost life again before bailing once more.

"Hey, take it easy on her, X, she didn't mean for any of this to happen, I heard that you were close to ripping her whole life apart for mentioning your name." Cedric turned his head to the Demi, he remembering all of it; the scars, the torture, he had caused fear, terror, and upset among the school and no one was ready to face him, he could mastermind utter collapses of families and businesses, he was a villain in the sense of the word before he faced forward, eyes glancing down to Sam before reaching down, Danny bracing for trouble before Cedric pried her off and spoke.

"Samantha Lilith Manson... what you did was bull-headed and stupid, that I can admit." He breathed from the hiss from under the visor as he continued. "If I was still angry with you, I would forgo chivalry altogether and just slap you..." He shook his head as he continued. "But... I am also at fault, I put no mind to how Talia was feeling, how she was doing, I didn't clue in on how my wish for her Demi form was still part of her power and that the falling stars would actually destroy her human form to replace it fully with the ghost... I lost her, due to my own small wish." He lifted the Thermos in hand and gripped it as he spoke. "I will make it right by her, I feel the need to..." He clipped it onto his armor as he turned to the trio again. "You should get going, the movie starts in thirty, don't miss it..." Both took off as Danny rested a hand on Sam's shoulder and she turned to hold him as he answered.

"Let's go..." She bobbed her head in agreement, there was some healing to be done and Sam needed it, she just never realized how much her life meant to her without Danny to make it better...

* * *

The battle between the three was crazy as the trio watched it go down before Danny remarked, his thoughts the same actually. "I never realized how different my life would have been if I hadn't met you." Danny breathed as he continued. "I gotta say, it's sorta cool to know."

"Still. Sorry about that stupid fight. Can we forget it ever happened?"

"So you have wished it, so shall it be." Both blushed to each other before Tucker interrupted, both self-conscious as he complained.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Meanwhile, down in the abandoned sewer system of Amity's Southern End, Cedric injected EZ-65 into Talia, the color returning to her flesh before her eyes opened, the difference being that one was still as blue as the former side had given, but the other, hidden under the shroud of hair, was a diamond pink as she glanced to him with the monochromatic set before she asked.

"Cedric...?"

"Rest, Talia..." Cedric answered as he took her hand and held it tight, she squeezing back as he explained. "Freakshow's scepter left some lingering essence that your tucked-away hatred quickly used in connection to the meteor shower. You needed to be injected with Sixty-Five as it negates any lingering control that the scepter once held and purge you clean of all of the tainted essence, the scepter was full of the stuff over the years, both accidental and on purpose."

"Hmm..."

"Just rest and..." But, Talia didn't release as Cedric's eyes widened before he hummed back. "Alright, I'll stay, just give me a moment." He slowly pulled her into his lap and let her rest there, head on his shoulder and legs dangling over as she fell asleep soundly while Cedric just kept close. "Take your time... there is no rush..."


	22. S2 - Doctor's Disorders

The day for Casper High could have been better as Mr. Fuluka, the teacher in charge for the current biology class mused on a recent development before him. "Fascinating. Possibly some of the most interesting mandibular formations I've ever seen." If only it could have been said about an average bug, not a giant green mosquito the size of a bull. "I hope I don't end up seeing it from the inside!" The bug crept closer, but the hero arrived as Danny dove down to the bug's confusion before plucking it up from the bottom as he exclaimed to the giant bug.

"Anybody up for a Game of Slug Bug?" He tossed the bug out and made it crash into the ground before it got up and fired eye beams at him before he dodged out of the way as it whizzed past, he attempting to blast it before it netted him with goo and caused him to crashed into a tree as he met the teal blues of a familiar girl who had gasped to confirm her presence.

"Paulina!" She beamed as Danny continued in his confined position in the tree. "You should run." She didn't do the sensible thing as she tried to rush over to hug him as he exclaimed, freeing his hands from the goo. "No, not toward me. Away! Run!" He blasted to her ducking and seeing the massive bug and book it as Danny freed himself as he took flight away, just as Valerie quickly joined him and and exclaimed.

"Why is it a giant bug, WHY!?"

"Do you want to ask it that question?" Both dodged as Danny shouted. "Time to introduce it to a familiar friend..." Both branched into Danny's direction before both stopped before the power lines as Danny spoke to the zooming pest. "Bug..." Both dodged at the last second, just as their pest crashed into the telephone lines, electrocuting itself as Danny smirked. "...Zapper." Instead of getting stunned, however, the bug just exploded and fragmented into hundreds of smaller bugs before they formed a swarm and dove into the school as Danny groaned. "Well, one down, a billion to go."

"That's a bit over the top, but okay..." Both zoomed in to change back and see what they could find...

* * *

They didn't find much before Valerie scrunched her face as Danny vocalize his dismay as they found the smell of utter disgust coming from Tucker. "Fwe, what is that smell?" Tucker answered as he showed them both the can.

"This, its my new all over body spray. I made it myself, I call it 'Foley, by Tucker Foley'." Both started to gag as the light-green mist spray overwhelmed their senses as Tucker explained it to be the smooth guy. "It combines with your natural odor to create a sweet, manly scent, that smells different to everyone who sniffs it."

"Tuck, you smell like a sweaty cookie."

"Fermenting fruitcakes for me." Valerie started to use a washcloth that she stored to cover her face from the odor.

"By choice. The ladies will be swarming all over me."

"They are going to be repelled, more or less." Danny's sense went off and he turned, missing the swarm that just flew by before the crowd chanted Paulina's name but she ignored them as she hummed.

"So many boys, but only one you." She opened her locker to the number of Danny Phantom pics, only getting pulled out of it when something bit her, a ghost that phased into her skin. "Owh! Hey, you blemished my flawless skin." She closed the locker and headed out as the party headed down the halls before stopping as Tucker paused in fear before Danny asked.

"Tucker?" He waved his hand over his friend's face to no reaction as he questioned. "Hello. What's wrong with him?"

"This happens every time he gets near the nurses office." Sam answered as Tucker stammered.

"Nu..nu..nu..nu..nurse!" Sam was quick as she replied.

"This is a bad one. In a case like this, it's best not to let him see." She pulled out a paper bag and stuffed it over Tucker's head, letting him grip her shoulders as she took the lead in convincing him to follow. "Come on Tuck, find a happy place."

"Right, I'm not passing a nurse's office, I'm passing a... modeling agency." They walked right through before getting a safe distance away before he pulled off the bag and breathed. "Thanks Sam."

"You're afraid of the nurse's office?" Danny asked as Tucker went off.

"Yes, nurse's offices, doctor's offices, hospitals. Any place with sharp pointy sticky things, and the smell of sick people."

"A phobia, then?" Cedric hummed as the party turned to him. "Could it be... Nosocomephobia or Trypanophobia?" The party blinked at him before he answered again. "Have none of you ever actually heard about the special names for phobias, the fear of hospitals or needles?" All shook as Cedric sighed. "Well, that is a terrible scent." Sam finally sniffed the air before she groaned in disgust, the others smelling with various reactions.

"Speaking of sick smells, what is that? Gym socks and snicker-doodles?"

"Foley, by Tucker Foley." Danny, Valerie, and Tucker answered with Tucker beaming while Danny and Valerie looked done with it as Danny added.

"It's Tucker's cologne." The ghost sense went off as they spied Paulina in the distance, but looking more sickly and green than before. "Uhh, is Paulina glowing?"

"Uh, I know she's supposed to have flawless skin, but this is ridiculous." Sam answered before Paulina groaned to the ghostly glow.

"Auh, I feel terrible, and disfigured." She moaned as she remarked. "Stupid bug bite!"

"Bug bite?" One of the ghost bugs flew by before it found Jazz's neck, Kwan and Star laughing at it before Kwan got bit in the same place and Star got bit on the butt as suddenly, the hall was filled with ghost bugs as Valerie exclaimed.

"What's going on, what is this!?"

"I don't know, but we're going ghost!" Topaz, Talia, and Danny rushed to Danny's suggestion as Valerie, Cedric, Sam, and Tucker covered them as Danny Phantom, Topaz McLain, and Talia Ramalia went to work clearing out the bugs with Thermoses before returning to the party as they mused.

"Well, I think that's all of them." A bug found Sam, however, as she yelped and smacked her arm to Topaz's questioning. "How did we..."

"Ahhhh!"

"Or more." Danny answered as he went after Dash who just phased through the door and he asked. "Hey, Dash, uh, not that I care, but are you okay?" He walked up to the stall where Dash was in as the football player moaned.

"I don't feel so good."

"Yeah, this always happens on goulash day." Except goulash didn't just fire ecto beams from the stall as Danny grimaced to what just happened, a ghostly aura is one thing, powers were another as he laid on the tile in dodging. "Although, I've never seen goulash do that." The door busted to pieces as Dash, now a green monster of himself stomped out with a growl.

"GET AWAY!" The monster hurled Danny into an open stall and readied to rip him to pieces, if Danny had turned Phantom once more and tackled the beast from the ceiling and behind, slamming him into the wall before lifting him up as he shouted.

"I wish I could say I didn't want to do this, but..." The transformation reverted back and Danny kept Dash from falling as he groaned with an unconscious Dash on his shoulder. "Ugh, and just one cheap shot away from a semester full of payback." Soon, it was a full-blown issue as it came under the belief that every student in Casper High had fallen sick with some unknown disease, completely in quarantine...

* * *

It was nice that the parents could mobilize to find out the truth, but nothing could be done as Maddie pleaded. "Why can't we see our children, Mr. Fuluka? This is outrageous, they're sick. They need us."

"Now, I understand your concern folks, but I have been instructed not to disseminate any information at this time."

"But you're a teacher. It's your job to disseminate information!" Jack bawled as he ranted.

"Poor Jazz. She's always been my favorite." He blew his nose before handing the used handkerchief to Danny, who was 'healthy' from the disease. "Here you go Danny, don't lose this. It was your grandfather's." Danny gave a disgusted sound as he heard Tucker call to him in a whisper.

"Hey Danny, check this out." Danny walked over with stashing the handkerchief in a baggy, to wash later as he asked.

"What's up?" Tucker opened his palm to another bug as he answered.

"I got another one."

"Tucker, get rid of that thing!"

"No no, look, it won't bite me or phase through my skin or anything." Danny was confused as to that meaning as he asked.

"That's weird, I figured my ghost powers were protecting me. What's protecting you?" The bug flew off to join the mess before both boys pointed to each other.

"'Foley, by Tucker Foley'." Danny beamed as he continued.

"Wow. Its not just repelling, it's a repellent." He stopped before he noticed that Valerie and Cedric weren't with them as he attempted to ask. "Where is..."

"In quarantine..." Danny turned to Talia and Topaz joining them as Talia spoke. "Cedric was trying to figure out where the bugs were coming from, but it phased into him and now, he is displaying signs of active electricity."

"More so than Valerie, she was an utter hothead before they got her in." Topaz glanced to Damian worrying deeply at the mere notion of a disease. "I'm sorry for her dad, it's not everyday that someone's hair turns into fire." She patted her head as she finished. "Well, anyone who doesn't know how to control it." The Gym doors opened and Topaz glared at the lanky, pale guy that stepped out as he introduced himself.

"Hello people. I'm Dr. Bert Rand."

"Are you from the government's disease control center?"

"Sure, lets go with that." The four narrowed their brows to the sound of it as Bert Rand continued. "I can assure you that your children are in good hands, and will be transferred to the creepy hospital on the edge of town." Only one had heard of that place and the rock star knew it had seen better days... since her former time as Maddie pressed.

"Under quarantine?"

"Sure, let's go with that too." Jack cut in as he exclaimed to the man.

"Oh yeah? And just why should we trust you?"

"Because I'm with the government and can audit your taxes if you don't."

"We trust you." The threat of taxes was too strong for any adult as Danny voiced his disapproval.

"Well, I don't trust him. Sam, Jazz, Valerie, and Cedric are in that hospital, and we've got to find out what's going on."

"Have a good time." Tucker made to walk away as Danny exclaimed with the girls at his side.

"Tucker, I said we."

"You also said hospital." Danny dismissed the idea of it being tough as he spoke.

"I go invisible, I go ghost, I'll be in and out in no time. Just watch." They headed up to the hospital, thanks to Topaz's knowledge of the place, as three letters fell from the sign, spelling 'No Mercy Hospital' as Danny soared to get in before he was electrocuted and flew backwards before Topaz caught him as Talia exclaimed.

"A ghost shield!? Now, the matter has grown deeply." Tucker voiced for them to just go.

"Well, let's just come back during visiting hours, or perhaps, not at all."

"We can't do that, Tucker." Danny answered as he straightened up and spoke. "The fact the hospital has a ghost shield around it makes it even more suspicious." He turned as he willed the rings to form. "If I can't get in as a ghost..." He reverted back as Topaz joined him. "...I'll have to get in like a kid." They headed for the front entrance guarded by guards that seemed a bit more ghostly than expected and seemed... like they were waiting for something. "Okay, just hang out here and wait for me, Tucker and Talia. You got my mom's Fenton utility weapon, just in case?" Tucker pulled out a lipstick before he mused.

"It's a lipstick and an ecto blaster. Because I'm worth it."

"Okay then." He jumped into Tucker's arms to play the part while Topaz was leaning on Talia as he finished. "Let's make this good." He closed his eyes with Tucker dashing forward with the other two behind, Topaz doing excellent with puffing out black smoke from her jaw, as she learned how to muster her own fire core to blast fire from the mouth under the tutelage of Cedric as the guards stopped them with a warning.

"This area's restricted, no admittance."

"But our friends are sick, they need to be in the hospital. Them, not me." Talia groaned at how dumb Tucker was being about this before Bert Rand spoke up with opening the doors to the scene.

"It's alright guards, stand down." He stepped forward as he inquired. "Has this young man and woman been exhibiting any ghost-like symptoms?" Danny peered before turning invisible and visible and Topaz's hair burst into flames before reverting back as Danny groaned with Bert Rand taking the handed-off boy while one of the guards brought forward a wheel chair for Topaz to topple into as the doctor exclaimed. "Oh no! You poor, sick human child, it's worse than I thought." A thumbs-up was given to someone in the high window before the duo was pulled into the hospital as Tucker tried to make small talk.

"So, what's the skizzle, fizzles?" He got his ear pulled by Talia as they distanced themselves from the hospital, intent on waiting for either Danny or Topaz to exclaim for backup. Both were carted in as both looked about to the mass of students suffering from this ghost plague, both exchanging glances as the usual powers were on display before Bert Rand exclaimed to a running band member being intangible.

"Now now, son, must try to control those powers." With that, he headed to return the kid to his room, but that left both of the Demis to their work as Topaz spoke.

"Yeah, this place has seen better days, but that doc... there's something about him that is VERY familiar."

"I get what you mean, I swear I have heard his voice once before." They continued on before they encountered Kwan as he exclaimed.

"Fenton, Lain, you're in here too?" Another Kwan appeared in the other seat as both backed up as Kwan just doubled. "Four... Six... Eight... who do we appreciate? Us, us." The eight paused before screaming. "Run, run for our lives!" They separated as Danny groaned.

"Are you kidding, eight Kwans!? I can only get three of me."

"Two Topazes here." Both stopped as Jazz spoke up.

"Hello, nurse? I'm feeling a little lightheaded. Literally!"

"Jazz?" The pair walked up to a jar before the green ectoplasm inside turned into Jazz's head as both drew back before Topaz spoke.

"Wow, I know that we joked about you being a head case, but this is more extreme than before."

"She can't form her whole body somehow, the ghost powers are new to all of them, we need to find..." Sam's scream drew their attention as Danny spoke, Jazz closing her eyes to give them space. "I'm going ghost!" He transformed as Topaz joined.

"Spotlight!" Topaz Lain turned into Topaz McLain as she mused. "Whoa, a battle cry, just what the pop star ordered." Both booked it to where the scream was heard, their presence given away by Paulina as both appeared to Danny appearing with Topaz with him.

"Somebody need some help?" He glanced behind him as he exclaimed. "PAULINA! Uh, it is Paulina, right?"

"You came for me!" Sam pulled the curtain aside as she growled.

"He didn't come for you, he came for me."

"Phrasing, Miss." Danny answered as he spoke again. "Can you excuse us for one minute?" Neither gave her a answer as both flew over and pulled the curtain over before Topaz spoke.

"Sam, are you alright? We heard a scream."

"Yeah, that was me. You'd scream too if you were stuck in a sleepover with her."

"Actually, I kinda doubt that, unless it was severely in pink, then Topaz would scream too."

"Darn straight."

"Yoo hoo, ghost boy." Danny turned as Sam floated up, Topaz gasping before flying after her as Paulina continued. "Are you done talking to the unpopular girl yet?" Topaz brought her down as Danny answered.

"Uh, be right there." He flew off and Topaz kept Sam grounded for the most part as Paulina puffed out a blue mist, similar to Danny's, but not... right as Paulina groaned.

"Ooh, what is this?"

"It's called a ghost sense." Danny willed his as he explained. "See, it lets you know a ghost is near."

"Like you." Paulina swooned before Danny cut straight to the chase.

"That bug bite gave you ghost powers. Didn't anybody explain anything to you?"

"No, they just brought me in here, took a few tests, and stuck me in the same room as Suzie-Nobody over there and Un-popular Hot Sauce further back." Danny's eyes widened as he glanced down to Valerie glancing back, her hair on fire before she spritz it with water and went back, looking more tired than she should have. Sam didn't take it laying down as she exclaimed.

"For the record, I can hear everything you're saying."

"McLain?"

"She's getting into bed and, hopefully, stays there, I'll also get the fire hair cooling down, just get over here, flying and blazing hair are more dangerous than a ghost sense." Danny nodded as he answered.

"Hold that thought." He soared over as Sam groaned in the bed, Danny tying her down for the most part.

"As much as I hate to say it, she's right about one thing. I don't know what they're doing at this hospital, nobody's talking to us, nobody's helping us, Cedric didn't even say anything yet and we haven't found him yet." That moment was ruined when Bert Rand wheeled in a tank and let loose sleeping gas as he mused behind a medical mask.

"Oh, poor little teen, you're tired aren't you?" Paulina fell asleep as Bert Rand walked further in, the gas slipping under the curtain as Sam and Valerie fell to the same gas.

"So... sleepy."

"No... I..." Both dropped as Danny exclaimed.

"Sam? Paulina? Valerie?" Danny started to sway as Topaz did the same before she fell to the ground, reverting back as Danny tried to hold out. "Getting tired. Gas is affecting me?" The curtain was pulled away as Bert Rand exclaimed.

"Of course child, that's the point." Danny turned as Bert Rand with also reverting to a short, familiar-looking man from Spirit Week. "You didn't think this was an actual hospital, did you?"

"You're Penelope Spectra's assistant, Bertrand." He facepalmed as he phased the words, realizing their meaning. "Bert Rand, Bertrand. How did I miss that?" He fell to the ground weak as Bertrand spoke to the collapsing youth.

"Why don't you mull that over during your last two seconds of consciousness?"

"Tucker's right, hospitals stink." He fell asleep as both him and Topaz were hauled away to who knows where...

* * *

Danny stirred once more as he groaned. "Uh ah, where am I?" He gasped as he was bound down to a stretcher before struggling to escape as Bertrand commented.

"Save it, kid! Those restraints are ghost proof, you're in for the duration, with the young lady." He flew off as Danny exclaimed, stirring Topaz up from the slumber.

"Somebody tell me what's happening here!" The overhead lights came on and Danny blinked them away to focus on the shadowy figure that float in the air.

"Allow me, you know how we therapists love to talk it all out."

"Spectra?" Outside, Tucker took in the sight as the guards were now floating as he listed it off.

"Spooky hospital, ghosts guarding the joint, still no sign that Danny's in any real danger yet." Talia narrowed her brow as Danny's voice screamed.

"LET ME GO!"

"Still technically not a cry for help."

"HEEEEEEEELP!"

"Well not a cry for me."

"_**TUCKEEEEEEER!**_"

"Ah dang." Talia chuckled as she put on a mask as Tucker primed himself with Foley and the lipstick before approaching the guards, confusion on their faces before he sprayed himself, the guards coughing up a storm as Tucker exclaimed. "Oh please, you guys are ghosts. Do you have any idea what you smell like?" He blasts the guards with some kickback as Talia had 'borrowed' the whip weapon of Bullet's from Valerie and tossed one of the guards to the side as Tucker exclaimed to the hospital. "Don't worry, Danny, the cavalry's coming! Whether he wants to or not."

"Bravery, Foley, we have bravery." They headed in with medical attire on before Sam's voice spoke up.

"Tucker, is that you?"

"Sam, is that you? Where are you?"

"Up here." Both looked up as Tucker spoke.

"Sam?" He let out a short laugh as he spoke. "And you call _me_ an air head."

"You know, you should _really _stop and consider all the vile things I could do to you from up here."

"If you can figure out how to do so, if steel-toes are not bringing you down, then clearly, there is little we can do." Talia answered as Tucker still hit the wall to avoid getting hit.

"I think Danny's really in trouble, have you seen him?"

"A while ago with Topaz, but I fell asleep and when I woke up, they were gone. There's something evil happening here."

"It's a hospital Sam. There's always something evil happening here." Tucker answered as both discarded the disguise into the laundry cart as Tucker spoke. "We have to find Danny."

"Unfortunately, I think 'we' means 'you'. I'm pretty useless and there are cameras and guards everywhere."

"Not in there." Tucker pointed to a vent that Sam had gotten close to as he spoke. "Push that vent open." The action was pull as Sam *pulled* the vent cover off and Tucker quickly fashioned a pair of lassos to pull Sam down to the ground before Talia helped her down as well, the IV stand grounding her somehow as Tucker took to climbing into the vent and replying to the pair of them. "If I'm not back in five minutes, just... float there, okay?" He crawled in as Talia just sighed as she spoke.

"Of all of the latest things, it just had to be a place where healing can be both good and bad." Sam asked as she donned a worried look.

"Bad experience?"

"The dead whisper in the halls of some of the more... attuned locations, I myself have never had an issue with them, but when you travel the world like I once did, you can feel the regret of those lost in the halls." Sam nodded as Danny exclaimed to Spectra, hoping Topaz would get up and help him somehow.

"What do you want?"

"What everybody wants, Danny, and for me, that means being beautiful." She pushed Danny to a cabinet as she flew over with hands on the handles as she spoke. "That's why I'm assembling this!" She opened it to what could have been a body suit that almost matched her own appearance as the school therapist. "A brand new me, fashioned by only the best teen genetics."

"So, the ghost bugs, the virus?"

"All part of my plan, I need to get the children away from the adults all in one place." She pressed a button on the wall and it opened to what must have been some DNA chamber as she was pleased. "So, I could siphon away the best qualities of each of them, Jazz's brains, Dash's muscles, Paulina's nearly flawless skin..." Danny paused as he inquired.

"Nearly flawless?"

"She has a mole. Isn't it obvious?"

"Nope." Danny answered as Spectra just continued.

"I had to treat them all with my little ghost virus to get them all in one place."

"And the ghost powers?"

"A side effect." She flew over as she continued. "At some point, the powers will be too much and they'll all burn out, into little withered husks. Won't that make a great class photo?" Danny grimaced as the stretcher was moved into place as Tucker just repeated to himself in the vent, on his way to Danny and Topaz.

"Okay, I'm not in a spooky air vent in a hospital. I'm in an air vent in a totally not spooky modeling agency." Danny struggled as he exclaimed.

"You'll never get away with this, Spectra."

"Ooh, but I already have and you, Danny, you're the grand prize, I need your genes to lock this perfect body together and stabilize it so my ghost form never burns out and never grows old. How helpful are you?" She spun him around and shoved him into the DNA Machine as he grimaced, kicking himself with putting the handkerchief in the baggie.

"Oh man, if only I had some break right about now." Suddenly, a surge lanced across the whole place, surprising all as Spectra exclaimed.

"What, what is happening, who could..."

"SPectRA..." Both flinched before glancing to the doors as a teal glow surged from the passage before they were ripped to the sides as a construct of some ectoplasmic electricity surged in, blue lens peering back to Spectra's red from the teal-blue surge. "TimE TO cheCK Out..."

"What, what are you and how are you doing this!?"

"SimPLE..." The construct raised a hand before slamming the ground, the whole lab shaking as Spectra snatched her body suit with an interest of preserving it. "I KEEp the CuRRenT FLowIng...!" She grimaced as she exclaimed.

"This body will be on a time limit, but I need to get out of here, now." She surged into the body, cracks forming across it before she exclaimed from it. "You haven't won yet, I will be back..." She took off as the creature pulled Danny out and spoke.

"DaNNy..." Danny grimaced as the thing tried to keep him free, but couldn't. "LoSING... FoCUs..." The thing toppled back as it shrink inward, Danny gasping as it was a familiar face.

"Cedric!" A vent fell and Tucker jumped out as he exclaimed.

"Hello, models! I mean, Danny, you're OK!"

"Tucker! You broke into the hospital!" He paused as he knew what that meant. "Wait, you broke into a hospital?"

"Please stop saying hospital, because I _will_ run and leave you here to perish." He pulled off the lipstick and fired at the restraints as Danny went ghost before he blew it out. "Plasma Peach, its great for kissing this place goodbye!"

"Not yet, Cedric is out cold while Topaz is locked down as much as I was."

"No problem." Danny went to work getting Topaz out of the bindings while Tucker just sprayed 'Foley' on Cedric, both watching the bug left him before Cedric got up and glared.

"Give me that, I don't want to smell like mildew and tartar sauce." He glanced to it before he exclaimed. "A ghost-antibiotic spray, excellent, we can use this through the vents to drive the bugs out and suck them all up."

"Yeah, but Spectra will try this again, she didn't get the perfect body she wanted."

"Excuse me, we can't all be perfect." Cedric groggily got up while Topaz was freed as Danny spoke.

"There, now we..." Before Danny could continue, Topaz blinked before pulling Danny into a kiss, her color returning and her hair blazing as she spoke with golden amber eyes.

"That's more like it... also, YES!" Topaz cheered as Tucker exclaimed to the sudden action.

"What just happened!?"

"Topaz's obsession has lessen, that is true, but it also has been powered up, if she shares a kiss with someone who reciprocates her love and affection, the power up is five times more powerful than a hundred chants."

"...I have just entered a love triangle and I am okay with that..." Danny stammered before Cedric spoke up again.

"Let's find Bertrand and Spectra and put them out of business." Danny took Tucker and Topaz took Cedric before they went searching as they found the short man with Dash as the jock moaned.

"Ahh man, when she sings 'Wind Beneath My Wing', I just go to pieces."

"What's up, Doc?" Bertrand glanced to find them as he exclaimed.

"You!" Danny blasted him as Bertrand growled before he transformed and the four glanced up to the towering orderly as Topaz remarked.

"The orderly is new..." Dash booked it away in terror as the brute formed a giant scalpel in hand as Tucker threatened him.

"Don't move! I mean it, this thing both moisturizes and repairs damage from the wind and sun." Bertrand just knocked it out of hand as Paulina plucked it up to apply as Topaz exclaimed.

"Then try some hot spice!" She inhaled and blew, Bertrand direly stumbled back to the flames as Danny got a boot to the head as Talia also arrived with Bertrand rushing to pin Tucker to the floor as he spoke.

"Okay, this is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me." The scalpel turned into a injection as Tucker exclaimed.

"How about neither of us get hurt, why isn't that an option?" Cedric flew over with a flying kick and knocked Bertrand off, reverting him back as Topaz caught the tossed Thermos and shouted.

"No amateurs in the hospital, your bedside manners stank anyway." She blasted as Bertrand wailed to getting caught, just as Spectra returned.

"Very Impressive, kids, but a bit late, I'm afraid."

"I am in a modeling agency." Tucker exclaimed to the wondrous body before him as Spectra spoke.

"It's nice, right? Smart, beautiful, deadly." She started to create a ecto-grab before a binding of ecto-line restrained her as Talia held the capture device as Spectra howled. "How is this possible, are you working with Walker!?"

"Believe it or not, no, he wanted me as public enemy around here." Danny landed as the others started to get some space going among the other residents as Cedric directed Tucker to get to the main AC control circuit and to administer 'Foley' to it. "No, we just wanted to clean up this mess before people started to question the whole thing.

"Come on, Pene, get real about this whole beauty thing." Topaz landed as she spoke to the fragmented model. "Richard is a womanizer and you are FAR better than him, so why are you continuing to stoop to his level?" Penelope Spectra made to remark before the statement came back before she answered.

"Wait, what did you say?" She didn't last long as she was consumed by the Thermos by Danny as Tucker purged the hospital of its insects and Danny catching them before he asked Topaz.

"What was that all about?"

"Oh, Spectra is one of my old friends, she told me and Kitty everything, her obsession is based on a bad story of her getting rejected by some flirt and trying her hardest to be the most beautiful, but it didn't last as some of the products she used were destroying her mind and before long, she broke down..." She smelled the air and groaned. "Fish and radishes, the worst..." Tucker returned as he exclaimed in glee.

"Yeah, how do you like that? My first trip to the hospital and I'm the only one who didn't get hurt." That was cut short as Sam dropped on him and he yelped as his feet went at a weird angle. "Ow."

"Can I get my boot back now?" Danny nodded as he handed the boot back before Topaz spoke.

"Also, Manson, you... may hate me for this." Before Sam's eyes, she watched Topaz kiss Danny on the lips and beamed as she just licked her lips with a dazed Danny. "He is a REALLY good kisser."

"I... I... Shoot, a love triangle..." They headed out as Sam got a new rival in love for Danny while everyone got a happy end out of it...

* * *

Well, except for Tucker, who had to get a cast on his foot as Jack thanked him for the aid he had rendered, all in the hospital. "Tucker, just wanted to thank you for helping to get our Jazz out of that awful hospital, although I have to agree with the authorities, that ghost plot thing seem pretty far fetched, huh baby?" Maddie chuckled as well as she mused as well, they couldn't say much in the cameras.

"Yeah, everybody know humans can't have ghost powers." She waved goodbye to the party as Jack and her left. "Bye, Danny." They came over as Sam apologized for the accident.

"I'm so sorry about your leg, really, I am."

"I told you hospitals reek."

"Oh, come on, Tuck." Danny voiced as he continued, no one really paid any attention to a group of teens. "We beat Spectra, and you should be fine in eight to ten weeks, it could be worse." Sadly, Danny jinxed Tucker as a Nurse wheeled in a elderly man as she spoke.

"Here's your new roommate, Mister Foley."

"Hey there, my name's Carl. No need to put me in bed, sweetie, just wheel me up to the whippersnapper so I can spent the next two weeks jabbering on about what it was like when I was his age." Danny grimaced as he spoke with a smile.

"And now it's worse."

"Wow, look at the time." She waved goodbye with Talia, Topaz, Cedric, and Danny as Jazz was at home recovering from a short daze and Valerie was getting a few good showers to wash off the scent of 'Fish and radishes' off at her father's request as Tucker stammered.

"What? Wait."

"You see that television, we didn't have televisions, we had radios."

"Oh, come on."

"And that clicker, we didn't have clickers, we had to use a device called a knob. Have you tried to climb out the window, we didn't have windows in my days."

"Guys!" The party just smiled as they left the hospital with Danny answering, repeating the same words that Tucker used.

"Still technically not a cry for help."

"Help!" They headed off as Cedric actually had stuff he wanted to say.

"Okay, Spectra and Bertrand will be back, but they will be either on a short lease or under ecto-protection as I want to make sure that they, in the very least, behave themselves."

Danny shrugged as they continued on the walk, Topaz and Sam flanking him as he spoke. "Yeah, that makes sense, but what was with the 'static show' you did at the hospital?" Cedric had explained that he was able to manifest as a entity without legs, just an upper torso and a large amount of power.

"I just... recalled an old character that was like what I just turned into and used that as a basis, the bug didn't seem able to kill me after that, but it tired me out before long." He stopped and the party turned to him as he pulled up a document of the students admitted. "Wait a moment..." They rejoined him as he scrolled through the PDA as Sam questioned.

"Is something wrong?"

"Wrong... no; Strange... yes..." He picked out Sam's profile and brought it up before it showed her DNA and he spotted it. "Is that... surely not, but that is not proper human genome." Danny looked as well and his eyes widened, as with Talia and Topaz as well as Topaz spoke.

"What the... Sam's DNA is encoded with some ghost?"

"What!?" Sam exclaimed as Talia continued the idea as she looked at it further.

"No doubt about it, your genetic structure has some form of ecto-cell sequences combined with the usual strands..." Cedric hummed as it seemed... odd. "But, for some reason, this isn't some idle merge, nor some overshadowing essence left behind... this is some form of ancient spirit-inheritance that has fused into your blood and has only now been unlocked to the surface." Talia looked to the Goth as the others did so too, confused to the meaning as Talia finished. "It may be some minor detail that we don't understand, but one thing is sure..."

"You are not fully human somehow, but we will not abandon you, we will be by your side to understand it..."


	23. S2 - Pirate Radio

Danny let out a sigh of admiration as he commented, the friends on the top of the Fenton Works Op Center for a night of star gazing with him. "Ah! Clear skies and no moon. A perfect night for stargazing." Danny knelt with his telescope on a tripod, Sam held hers aloft while Tucker just rested at the support with a radio by his side, Cedric and Talia just gazing up with smiles before Sam broke the moment about the radio that was playing a song that felt like it was putting them to sleep.

"More like star snoozing. This music is putting me to sleep. Can't we listen to something else?" Tucker tried before he replied to no other station playing anything other than that slow melody.

"Survey says no." That was also interrupted when the ground shook and Danny's sense went off with Talia's before a massive ship surged from the ground, a ghost ship of a sloop, as it faced them with a prow before turning to its side, a crew of undead mutineers ranting and cheering as they fired grappling hooks, landing their shots on the Center as Talia exclaimed.

A crew of pirates!? What has the world come to get them!?" They didn't know as the pirates landed on the Op Center and Danny didn't care as he exclaimed.

"Survey says going ghost!" He went ghost with Talia as the Exorcist armor formed around Cedric once more before they stood ready to fight, Danny trying to taunt them before a hook slammed into the port side as the pirates glanced up to... a young child as he exclaimed.

"Avast ye! Aw man, what's the word?" The bony parrot must have been the guide for this child as he answered.

"Scurvy dogs." It squawked as the kid ghost cheered.

"Right. Avast ye scurvy dogs! Prepare to be boarded by Captain Youngblood and his skeleton crew." Cedric glanced to Talia.

"You know this one?"

"Partially, he is a ghost who is interested in being a kid; games, toys, usually harmless fun; but he is dangerous as he can only be seen by children and adults with childish minds and he IS a ghost, but child ghosts are rare as they embody hope for the Zone."

"I can only guess why..." Danny took the chance to address the 'captain'.

"Hey, isn't it past your bedtime, kid?" That didn't tide over with Youngblood as his hook turned into a slingshot and blasted Danny away as he exclaimed.

"Don't call me kid! I'm mature beyond me years." He then rasp-berried before the crew made the shield, Cedric and Talia going to work as well as Cedric... went into the fun of it, the party seeing the pop of surprise and joy in Youngblood's eyes.

"Curse you, sea salty criminals, the holy church will not have your villainy stand before us tonight."

"Arrr, you can do little to stop our plunder." They tried to stop the pirates, but their target was obtained as Youngblood cheered from the ship. "Fall back, me harties! We've got, uh. Got, uh." Again, he referred to his parrot. "What's the word?" With a squawk, the aide answered.

"Booty."

"Ha, you said booty. Haha." The pirates just started to laugh as Talia and Cedric rolled their eyes as Danny realized what the pirates were after.

"Hey. They're stealing my dad's ghost shield generator!" He gunned to get it back, but Youngblood just blasted him back with a peg leg cannon and sent him flying back onto the Op Center with ball in tow before the sloop turned and disappeared from sight before Sam spoke.

"Nice going, matey. You just got your butt kicked by Short John Silver."

"Hey, considering he just took my dad's ghost shield, you think maybe you could be a little sympathetic, like Tucker." He stopped as Tucker was laughing him as he questioned again. "Tucker?"

"He said booty." All the facepalms as Cedric turned to Talia.

"So, what do you think?" She ran her hand through the hair before answering, the pink reflecting through.

"Well, I think that this could be a plot, but I do think we should let it slide for now, until we can establish what is happening." He nodded as the event was only the precursor to a pirate battle of ghostly purposes...

* * *

The day came and the music seemed to follow Danny, but his family had this dreamy look on their faces that Danny was starting to slightly doubt that the music was just some soothing music as Maddie and Jack tinkered while Jazz just stirred her bowl of cereal before Danny reached to turn the music off, but that provoked a reaction from them as they shouted at him. "Danny!" He flinched as he explained it to them.

"Mom, Dad, FYI, when you're fourteen, easy listening isn't that easy. Could I please turn this off?"

"No!"

"You can't possibly like this music that much." He exclaimed to Maddie speaking as she settled back down with the look back.

"I do, dear. It relaxes me."

"And me." Jazz hummed with her face down before Jack added to it as he spoke.

"It's much more soothing than that other song I've been hearing all morning."

"Warning. Security breach. Ghost shield not operational." Danny glanced up to the alarm before he told Jack EXACTLY what it was.

"Um, that would be the warning signal."

"And it's interrupting with the cool, easy sounds of morning radio. So crank up the tunes, Jazzy-pants." She beamed as she turned it up and Danny grimaced to the increased volume before he paused in his heading out to school.

'Hold up, it's a slower tone and pitch, sure, but that's Remember without lyrics... What's Topaz's song doing on the radio now?' He headed out to Casper as he explained it to his friends there. "I don't get it. The ghost shield's gone and it barely registers a blip on the parental radar."

"My parents have been acting kinda flaky, too." Sam answered as they walked through the halls with Cedric and Talia on the wing, neither having really heard the music beforehand. "All they do is listen to that new age vapor drone that's playing on every station."

Tell me about it. My folks crank it twenty-four seven. Must be a generational thing." Then all three synced together as they ranted.

"And the worst part, I can't get it out of my head." The music started to played as they continued. "Wait, you hear it, too?" They looked up to the gymnasium, running a DJ audition as the trio beamed, Talia and Cedric looked like they were pondering the sound before Cedric grabbed Tucker and Danny while Talia grabbed Sam, holding them back some as Talia spoke to Danny.

"Is that who I think it is?"

"I think so, but it is a slower pitch, no words, just a soothing change of the song?"

"What's going on here?" Tucker asked as Cedric spoke.

"What we are listening to is Remember, you know, Topaz's song when she was fully committed to being remembered as the one and only pop star."

"But, why is it playing like that and why are all the adults falling into those trances?" Sam asked as Cedric hummed before he replied back.

"I don't know, Topaz hasn't been in for a while now and this music is setting off some alarms in my mind, but I wouldn't jump the gun just yet, Topaz can explain it when she gets back... if possible..." They nodded as they headed in to the set up booth for the DJ station as Mr. Lancer spoke.

"Since we announced our new school radio station, an anonymous donor has been kind enough to provide us with these promotional, and incredibly soothing, vinyl albums."

"Vinyl? What is this, the stone age?"

"I resent that, Foley." Tucker smiled nervously to Talia's raised brow as Lancer continued to the confusion of the students there.

"Of course, you kids should feel free to, as you might say, bust out your own freaky beats." Dash and Kwan exchanged looks as Lancer pulled off the headset. "As long as they're not too freaky or too, uh, beaty." Danny was held back some by Cedric as the two of them headed up, the jocks parting as Danny spoke at the idea of getting the music OFF the channel."

"Sweet! Where do I sign up to yank this stuff off the air?" He cut the record as the populars just glared at him as Dash spoke.

"Fenton, a DJ? Yeah right. Who would ever listen to you?"

"Just because I am not the *best*, doesn't mean I can't, at least, try, Dash." He shouted into the mic. "What type of music do we want?!" No one answered as he repeated. "Throw me a bone here, what do we want!?" Sam and Tucker was willing as they shouted.

"Good music!"

"Nice! Good energy." Danny beamed to have his friends on his side. "Now, let's hear Dash rally this crowd!" Dash missed shoving Danny out of the way as Danny just switched spots with him, putting him on the spot as he paused.

"Um..." He quickly got his energy back as he shouted. "What do we want?"

"Good music!"

"When do we want it?"

"Now!" That was a different voice as the people looked to where it came form, only to have Youngblood appear and send everyone into a panic as Danny shrugged with a smile.

"Being ignored does, occasionally, have its advantages. Going ghost!" He transformed as Cedric followed, getting the intangibility over him as they chased the pirates down as Youngblood shouted.

"Avast ye bilge rats! Bilge rats is right, isn't it?" The bird nodded as Youngblood continued to shout with some crew behind him. "Our plunder lies afore!" They made a heading of the Weight Room as the pair gave chase, Talia keeping Tucker and Sam safe as Danny exclaimed with the pair spotting their pirate foes stockpiling exercise equipment.

"Hate to break this to you guys, but you can't build muscle tone without muscle." The crew tried to fight, but Danny's dodging skills were unmatched as Cedric delivered one heck of a punch to each pirate as Danny confronted the kid pirate. "Another play date with Kaptain Kid." Youngblood didn't let him with pinning him to the wall with metal hooks as the ghost countered against Cedric.

"Ye blige rats are no match for the power of Captain Youngblood!"

"If you will not yield like your fallen rivals and members, then the church will bless you with no salvation in the dark times!" The two brawled with Cedric holding his ground while Danny tried to get himself free as Youngblood was launched and plucked up as the Exorcist spoke again. "What use have pirates with the devices to strengthen the body, tell me, Blood, lest you suffer the command of the Admiral, leader of the Holy Priests."

"Never! You... uh, you..." He shifted his eyes about for a good one before Cedric leaned in and whispered, both looking surprised as Youngblood exclaimed. "Oh, I like that one!" He cleared his throat before speaking again. "Never! You clerics are no match for a member of real seaside merit!" The peg leg lifted and fired, blasting Cedric back before he commanded to the crew. "Get the stuff and let's go." The crew snatched the treadmills and bikes, turning them intangible, and lifting them away as Youngblood followed suit before Danny pulled himself free, helping Cedric up with a large dent in the armor before he flew into the air, looking around to nothing as he grimaced.

"Oh great. Hide-and-seek again." He returned and met up with his friends as Cedric explained that the damage was superficial as they walked by more radios playing Remember before Tucker asked about the heist.

"So what do ghost pirates want with exercise equipment?"

"I can't help thinking it has something to do with this lou... no, toned-down music." No way in heck was Danny going to disrespect Topaz's song, it had her soul in it and she had it to remind her that she is no longer that lonely girl, left to be stood up and suffer a house fire, she found comfort in him as two trucks rolled down with teens after the first's ice cream and the adults after the second's music as Sam spoke up.

"We have to counteract it somehow. Send some real music out into the airwaves." She gasped before turning her gaze form up to Danny. "We should start our own radio station."

"And where would we get the equipment to do that?" Sam just pointed up as the four looked up to the Op Center before Danny chuckled and answered. "No way." Sam raised a brow and Danny groaned before they headed in as he exclaimed. "Mom, Dad! I really wanna use the emergency Ops Center to start a radio station." But he didn't find anyone in the kitchen where they were enjoying the radio, in fact, there was no one there as Sam cheered.

"That's a yes!" Danny shook his head as he lifted up the brochure that was sitting on the table with a note on it as he read.

"Your mother, sister and I are on a weekend getaway fun cruise. We're sure you will take charge and act responsibly. Love mom and dad." He pulled the note away to see the name of the cruise name with confusion. "M. Bersback Cruise Lines. Weird. They went on a fun cruise with Jazz? Who isn't fun in the least. You know what this means?" Sadly, no, they didn't as Sam and Tucker headed up and Sam kicked the door open as Sam exclaimed in glee.

"Cool. They left it open for us." But Danny was more focused on what was going on as he exclaimed.

"The music, the pirate ghosts, my parents, and now this cruise ship? Something weird's going on and we need to get to the bottom of it."

"So your family's takin' a cruise. What's the worst that could happen?" Talia delivered judgement as Tucker yelped as Cedric spoke.

"You just jinxed us all, I have no pity for you now." Cedric's words were true as, across the town, adults just packed up for the cruise line and leaving teens behind as Tucker exclaimed when they headed to Casper high to hear about it.

"Your parents ditched you too?"

"Yep, my parents are gone. And just because I like saying it, I'll say it again my parents are gone!" Sam cheered with arms up in joy, but Danny was all the more interested in WHAT was happening in the first place.

"It's like this cruise is attracting every adult in town. And my sister who thinks she's an adult."

"Think of it as the hand pushing the party on the air."

"Party? What party?" Danny questioned to Sam pulling out a piece of piece that she MUST have made a few hundred times, advertising the radio station, but the phrasing was going to kill him as Sam answered.

"Providing Alternate Radio To You!" She then went into cheer. "P.A.R.T.Y!"

"We ain't got no alibi!"

"Criminal..." Talia huffed as Danny exclaimed in disbelief.

"You already made up a logo?"

"And I got our first sponsor." Tucker held up a Nasty Burger bag as he exclaim with burger in hand. "Plus all the Nasty burgers I can eat!"

Cedric glanced to Danny who returned the look. "Remind me to cut Tucker's allowance and ACTUALLY get a meal out of it instead of all the burgers he can get." Danny nodded before he stole both paper and bag out of his friends' hands.

"This is serious, guys! There's something suspicious about this cruise!" He dropped them into the trash as he continued. "I can't focus on the *P.A.R.T.Y* with my parents out of town, it is just a radio station, and if anyone takes a chance, I want spines, Cedric."

"Oh..." He chuckled as he spoke, cracking his knuckles as both Sam and Tucker looked worried. "...That I can do..."

"So no, Sam, JUST a radio station, I can't focus on that with this going on." Danny headed off as Sam joined in refuting.

"I can." If only Danny didn't throw away the paper that the message gave a different tone to a pair of football player, known as Dash Baxter and Kwan Ishiyama, who quickly spread the word of a party at the Fenton house...

* * *

The night drew on as Danny made for the docks to find the cruise, seeing all of the faces of the parents... and Jazz aboard as he breathed.

"Still in port. Good thing I'm not too late." He went to dive in and figure out what is causing it before hitting something, drawing back as he exclaimed, Cedric and Talia also stopping when they watched him hit. "W-why can't I get aboard? It's like this ship has some kind of... ghost shield!" He exclaimed as another voice spoke up.

"Ye catch on quick for a land lover!" They turned to Youngblood with some of his crew before the bird corrected.

"It's lubber."

"Really? It's lubber? That makes no sense!" The crew went on the attack as Danny dodged, Cedric and Talia showing them what for as two were blasted and the third had his head spinning as Danny gripped Youngblood's coat.

"OK, peewee, talk. Tell me what you want with these people or I'll- I'll spank you or something!"

"I'd love to see you try!" Youngblood blasted Danny back and both readied to face off before their noticed something odd, the cruise was suddenly shifting form the ship to the sloop that belonged to Youngblood as Talia spoke.

"The ship! It's..."

"Arrrg! There's another radio station jamming our transmission. Weigh anchor and set sail! Smartly there, swabbies!" The three saluted before heading down, manning the cannons as Danny lightly sighed.

"Great, this pirate-playing punk can get people to follow orders, but I can't? Do I have bad charisma?"

"Easy there, Phantom the Bard, we have bigger problems to contend with." Cedric mused as Youngblood spoke to the question.

"You just need to know the right words. Watch, Fire!" The cannons fired and Danny dodged two before getting the third in the gut and crashing into barrels as both of his aides came over.

"Danny!" They lifted him up from the mess and found that, in their moment of distraction, the ship was gone as Danny moaned.

"Well, one thing's for sure, it's going to be awfully quiet at my house tonight." They returned to the house and Danny's eye twitched to the party going on before, without warning, he yelled. "CEDRIC, I WANT THEIR SPINES NOW!" All froze at the sound and they turned with fear as Cedric cracked his knuckles with a grin.

"Understood, nice and bloody or clean cut?"

"DO IT NOW!" Before Cedric could, Dash and Kwan rushed over and exclaimed in apology.

"F-Fenton! W-We can talk about this!"

"Y-Y-Yeah!" Cedric beamed as he flexed his fingers for the chance before Kwan yelped. "W-We were going to your house for the party, w-we didn't mean to make a mess about it!"

"One, there IS no party!" Danny growled and the air seemed to chill as Danny ranted. "The only party that is SUPPOSE to be happening is the P.A.R.T.Y station, Providing Alternate Radio To You!" He hissed as he lifted a second finger. "Two, even if I DID host a party, it would be done with some rules and not a wild mess." He struck a third one up as he finished. "Final, I am done being nice and, if I find out that you two had taken this further, I will take your spines myself." Dash made a face as if Danny couldn't do just that, but all witnessed as Danny rushed with inhuman speed, threw Dash into the floor with force, and gripped his arm with a near-twist of the arm as he ranted, his eyes flashing with anger. "DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?"

"Cr-Cr-Crystal, Fenton!" Danny released as Cedric had taken a moment to call Ken about the blimp before Talia answered with the jukebox plug in hand, but the music was still playing.

"The music isn't coming through here."

"Yeah, and I would like their spines when I'm done with them." Danny commented as everyone just stopped and sat down, in fear of what Danny Fenton will do to them for this breach of home. Cedric added to it, another reason why the teens didn't intend to say a single thing in his presence right there.

"If we find them fat on burgers, they will be easy-pickings." The trio headed up to the Op Center and opened the door as Sam exclaimed into the radio.

"You're listening to the PARTY, fiercely independent radio, one hundred percent free of corporal influence."

"Except for this, brought to you by Nasty Burger. Nasty is one letter away from tasty." Danny cut in as he spoke.

"And what's about to happen either way to the both of you." Both sweated as the look Danny gave was bad. "I can't believe I ever trusted you, radio station ONLY, instead you let a party rage in my own house."

"There's a party downstairs?!" The crack of knuckles told the pair EXACTLY what was going to happen as Danny huffed, glad to be human as he rubbed his temples.

"Yeah, and you're about to become scorch marks on the walls!" Sam waved as she exclaimed.

"Sorry, sorry, we were not trying to make a party go, we are just..."

"PAR-A-PHRAS-ING, Sam!"

"...But we have just been busy up here with the premiere broadcast!" She pulled out a labeled cover as Danny let the rage go to question the disc.

"You took a vapor drone promo disc?"

"They make great scratch fodder." She put it on and started to scratch the disc when something came up as it started... to speak.

"Leave your kids, come-"

"Wait a minute- play that backwards again, slowly." Sam did so as they listened as the message was heard.

"Leave your kids, come to the cruise." Their eyes flashed wide as the message was repeated to be sure. "Leave your kids, come to the cruise."

"Subliminal advertisement?"

"More like mind control."

"Using music to control people. Why does that sound so familiar?"

"Maybe because we know someone who is ABLE to do just that, AND explains what she has been doing lately." The whole place rumbled as the party glanced out to the bellowing clouds to the sloop arriving, on deck being Topaz in a pirate attire beside Youngblood and the crew, the party shocked, as the rock star Demi exclaimed.

"That's right, pop fans. Ember's back and ready to rock!" She strummed a chord and blasted the Op Center as the party covered their ears form the impact as another blast came and Sam toppled and found one of the brochures on the ground before she phrased it out.

"M. Bersback... Ember's back! That's not a clue, it's a billboard!" Which was confusing, why would Topaz use her old name to advertise the service?

"We really got to start paying more attention to these things." Danny got up as he exclaimed.

"Going ghost!" He transformed and took flight, phasing through the Center and charging the ship as Topaz or *Ember* exclaimed.

"Wasting your time, wannabe!" She pushed a button in the crow's nest, engaging the shield as Danny nearly slammed into it before looping and growling as Youngblood went taunting as a kid.

"Na na na na!" He glanced to his aide before he replied with a more pirate tone. "I mean, aurgh!" Danny went to blasting the shield as he exclaimed, feeling that he needed to play with the scheme here.

"What, is the music career going so poorly that you've had to pick up babysitting jobs on the side?"

"I guess you could say we have the same opinion of adults-"

"Hate 'em!" Topaz continued to explain it as she answered with strumming the chords.

"So, Youngblood here helps me haul away the over thirty so I can, you know, take over the world and stuff. And I provide him with a power source for his fleet of ships." Danny raised a brow before he asked.

"But it's just one sloop, does he even have any other ships?" Both exchanged looks and Danny frowned as he, at least, knew what was being done to the adults... they were being the human power source for the ship as Topaz continued, turning the conversation away from the sole ship.

"Problem is, with your radio station jamming my frequency, and I can't hypnotize any more adults!"

"But not for long!" Youngblood shouted as he commanded. "Attack!" The cannons fired on Danny and launched him back into the Center as he reverted and exclaimed.

"Activate the defense system!"

"How?!"

"I don't know! Just start pressing buttons!" Cedric dialed up Ken again for some new improvements while Tucker and Sam made to try to get any defenses up to stop the attack, but nothing came to be as the 'Go Fenton' sign was blasted, one of the lights in the house dropping to the surprise of the party-goers before the ship slammed into the Center, toppling all over, but in toppling, Sam scratched the record and inadvertently blasted the pirate ship with a sound wave as Danny saw the same thing as he exclaimed. "Whoa! Sam, what did you do?"

"Struck a blow for independent radio!"

"Well, don't just stand there! Throw it into heavy rotation! And work in a plug for Nasty Burger, I promised them twelve hits an hour!" Sam quickly went to work, scratching the record and blasting the ship backwards with sound waves as Topaz exclaimed on the sloop, her power unable to collect more through her music.

"We need more power! I can't lure more adults aboard if I can't broadcast my music."

"Then we'll have to bring them in the old fashion way, like pirates." The parrot went above deck and steered the ship to scour the town, the pirates taking to raiding any and every site for adults and parents as the teens at Fentonworks rushed out to the panic of their parents as Paulina yelped to the event going on.

"Hey, they got my parents!"

"Mine too!" Dash yelped too before Kwan cheered at the idea he had.

"Cool, party at Dash's house!"

"Like, what is wrong with you?" Paulina shouted as she shoved Kwan into Dash who shoved them elsewhere with his own shout.

"Hey, watch it!" It became a domino effect of yelling teens down below as the party watched it happen before Danny exclaimed.

"I need to get our parents back!"

"How? You can't get past the ghost shield on that pirate ship!" Sam asked as Danny had a plan now.

"Maybe Danny Phantom can't, but Danny Fenton CAN." Danny quickly retrieved a megaphone and returned before addressing the crowd below as he got their attention. "Listen up people! If you want your parents back, you're going to have to follow my lead!"

"Why should we follow you, Fentoad?"

"You're right, Dash. Let's follow the other kid that comes from a family of ghost hunters and knows how to work all their gear!" Dash frowned as Danny shouted. "No takers? All right then, who's with me?" They fell in line in cheer as Sam questioned it.

"Wow, Danny. How'd you do that?"

"Just have to know the right words. Cedric?" He nodded as he took the megaphone and called out.

"Okay, there will be two teams to tackle the pirates, the first will be the initial and front-line force, the second will be the back line, I will take control of the second, Fenton's in charge of the first, now, let's move out!" The cheers became a roar as Cedric called up Ken again. "It's me, get the blimp primed, but let's get some ecto-weapons and armor installed on that machine when you get here." They divided up as Danny addressed the teens that wanted the first shot at the pirates, organizing them in his living room.

"Paulina, you're good with makeup. I need you to disguise Tucker as an adult, so he can get aboard the pirate ship and disable it from within."

"Aye-aye, Captain..." She answered as she took Tucker's wrist before finished. "...though you still have no shot with me." Danny rolled his eyes as she headed out with Danny turning his attention to a walkie-talkie, connecting him to Sam still in the Op Center.

"Sam, keep scratching. It's our only current weapon against that ghost ship." He turned to Kwan with collecting a number of measures to fight the pirates. "Kwan, you're on defense. Protect Sam and keep her on the air." He turned and gave a Fisher to Dash as well. "Dash, you're with me on offense. We're going to spring the adults from the pirate ship."

"So I get to hit people?"

"Oh yeah!" Dash then snatched Danny's shirt before he replied in relief. "THANK YOU, I know this is a change, but I am not really expecting anything to change between us, Dash."

"Sorry, old habits." Danny nodded as he handed out more weapons as he called out.

"OK, people..." They took the arms in hands and donned orange jumpsuits to resist more of the pirates' power as Danny stood ready as the first line of battle, his suit the inversion of his hero suit. "Let's move!"

* * *

Tucker took his place in the appearance of a balding man with a cane as he, using a roundabout way, walked up to Fentonworks and shouted to get the attention. "Hey, you kids! Turn that music down! I'm an adult, you know! A strong able-bodied adult!" He was snatched up just as quickly by the pirates as Danny mused, lowering his binoculars to the bait being taken aboard.

"Hook, line, and sinker."

"But how do we get our offense up to the pirate ship?" Sam questioned as Danny mused himself on the place.

"I just have to think like a Fenton. Now if I were my dad, where would I put the secret control panel for the Ops Center?" He turned to the Center as he questioned it further, trying to narrow it down. "Some place I would see every time I come here." His eyes widened in realization before a smile as he headed back in and walking past as he spoke. "I'm hungry."

"Wha...?"

"That's exactly what my Dad would do, every time he puts any controls somewhere." He opened the Center fridge and beamed as he nodded. "Yep, next to the ham!" He pushed the button as the system went off.

"Defense system activated. Also the ham has spoiled!"

"That's hardly worth the mention." The Ops Center retracted its radar dishes before detaching and expanding out a blimp to lift the whole thing up as Sam commented.

"Now your dad's only the second biggest blimp in the family." Danny snickered as they ascended up to face off as Tucker was brought below deck to Topaz's exclaim, heedless that it was Tucker in the first place.

"Oh, fresh fuel! Strap the geezer in while I keep this crew motivated!" She played her tone as Tucker was seated close to his parents, to power the sloop before he whispered to try and get them to be aware again.

"Mom, Dad, it's me, Tucker! You're under a spell. And looking really trim. Maybe you guys should exercise more often." He then started to look for where the shield would be fix to. "Now if I was a ghost shield, where would I be?" He spotted it with a 'ah-ha', situated under the helm before Youngblood shouted from above deck, drawing Topaz's attention.

"Ship ahoy! All hands on deck." Topaz pushed open the hatch and gasped as a blimp was coming right for them as she spoke in surprise.

"What the blimp is...!?" Danny, on the other hand, steered the ship in as he commanded.

"Steady as she goes and... fire!" Sam scratched the record and blasted the ship with an antenna below the helm before the cannons fired back, only to hit plating as Danny engaged it before the blimp dropped, descending on the ship before smashing into the mast as Youngblood cut his way free as he shouted to the lifting blimp.

"Hey, quit it!" Tucker operated under the deck, none of the pirates seeing him as he engaged the shutdown of the shield as Danny took to the top and commanded with an assault team.

"On my signal... Now!" The team lashed out lines to swing onboard in boarding actions as they slipped thorugh the shield and Danny landed with the others as he spoke to fight on equal ground. "Now I'm going- OW!" He toppled as he remembered a tid-bit that Cedric had told him about. "Right, forgot... can't change, the ghost shield neutralizes the changes... it's an overcharge and the shield shuts it down." Thankfully Dash jumped in to save him before he got up to fight like a human as they tore through the ghostly ranks, even hearing Star go cheering in her busting.

"Ready? OK! We hate pirates, yes we do! We hate pirates, how 'bout you?!" Soon, the pair of Dash and Danny went back to back with a pair of pirates as Dash commented.

"You're one brave geek, Fenton. When I'm whaling on you tomorrow, I'll be whaling on a hero. But I will be whaling on you." Danny chuckled as he voiced.

"Well, nothing should really change between us, we just want to save our folks from these pirates, we got time otherwise." They pushed their foes back and took them down before Danny split his weapon and charged as Paulina tossed something.

"Danny!" He jumped and landed on the skateboard thrown and rode it as he crouched low and took out more of the pirates before a sound wave blasted him and knocked him into the squad as Topaz voiced with looking at them with Youngblood form the helm.

"The only one rocking this boat is me!" She blasted again and trapped them in a small dome before Youngblood pulled Danny out as he spoke with glee.

"Time to walk the plank, shark bait." He hurled Danny to the plank and forced him toward the edge as Danny glanced about for a way out before he spotted one soaring through the clouds from the right side as he faced the pair on the ship.

"If you think that this battle is won, then you clearly haven't taken into account what could happen next, I have resolved to do this, for both them who had joined me and those that I came to save." He leapt back as the shield fell, Topaz pausing to the meaning as she questioned.

"So, where's the splat?" What she got back was the sound of jets as the Exorcist soared upwards and landed on the deck with Danny rolling out of the carry with a smile as the Exorcist spoke to Talia as the second airship arrived, ecto-guns mounted on the machine as she was given her orders.

"Get those cannons and keep the crew distracted, the first wave and me will handle the topside, save the prisoners as well."

"Acknowledged, Exorcist." The link cut as the ship fired, volleys feuding as Cedric turned to his friend.

"This is the big reveal, are you sure you want to do this?"

"I need to expand my circle of trust, we need more on our side, besides..." Danny transformed, right before their eyes, as many toppled back in surprise as Phantom spoke. "...Youngblood is my target, I think there needs to be some hashing out with 'Ember'."

"Copy." The pair dashed in and pressed the pair of ghosts into trouble before Cedric blasted with a catch of the guitar before tossing it to Danny as he exclaimed, a plan of bring the ship further down.

"Looking for this?" Topaz glared before ripping her hat off as her robin-blue fire blazed alive.

"No one touches the guitar, real or not!" She surged the fire to attack Danny as he rolled across the deck before flying over to the mast, her glare still strong as she blasted once more, Danny dodging for the mast to catch fire in electric blue flames as both recognized what just happened as Topaz answered on accident. "OK, maybe not the best idea." She shrugged as she answered. "Oh well, bon voyage, catch you on my come back tour." She made to leave before Cedric tossed a pair of cuffs, she gasping as they clamped on before she got zapped with some intense electricity and she reverted back to Topaz in a matching pirate attire, the electrodes settling before Cedric caught her and spoke to his ally.

"I'll get her back up to speed, you handle Blood and the members before I return!" He jumped to the blimp with boosts as Youngblood tried to cut down Danny, only getting the mimic guitar by cutting it in half before Danny tossed the bottom, the length now as an makeshift sword as he taunted.

"Bring it on, snot nose." They exchanged blows until they made it to the top of the burning mast, the blade passing through him harmlessly, but he dodged away as the young captain spread fire across the mast as he landed before the dome as Dash gasped, Paulina stunned.

"Fenton, you're Inviso-Bill!?"

"I REALLY need a publicist, no, it's Danny, Danny Phantom." He blasted the dome and dissipated as he spoke. "This is the greatest secret I have, it started since the beginning of freshman year, and I am entrusting all of you in keeping this a secret, sure this will help me out if it was revealed, but not many people SHOULD know, I am taking a chance, please don't make me regret it, you guys." Within that moment, they saluted as Dash answered.

"Got it, Phantom, we'll keep the secret, we will help you out when we can."

"You MAY regret that when the other guy gets his moment with you." He headed out and Dash busted down the door before all gasped to the state of the place.

"Wow, looks like a PTA health club." Youngblood crawled from the flames before he gasped to the escaping parents and adults.

"Arrgh! Me prisoners are escaping!"

"Then what's powering the ship?!" Without warning, the whole thing started to drop as Cedric watched it happen before he exclaimed to his crew.

"Launch tethers, that ship is not dropping on our watch!" The airship fired its lines and the crew and forces were jostled before Danny got a call from Cedric. "We will try to get the ship into the harbor, but it will be your job in getting those people OFF the ship before the tethers give out!"

"Copy!" He then shouted. "Everyone, get to solid ground now! Any injured or in need, we will get you off the ship as well, move!" They quickly moved with Youngblood and his crew dazed before they got onto the dock, the tethers holding no more as Danny jumping with his family last as the sloop plunged down into the waters as the parents and adults came out of their trances, Jazz the first to remark.

"What happened? Where are we?"

"And why do I suddenly feel like I have buns of steel?" Maddie's response was out there as she shouted.

"At last!" She quickly just went lovely on her husband as she remarked. "I mean, I love you just the way you are!"

"Eewww!" Danny quickly ducked behind some barrels and reverted back before he toppled and breathed.

"Yikes... a bit short on breath? I must have been taxing myself too much somehow."

"Yeah, you're not looking too good." Dash answered as he helped Danny up from behind the barrels. "Some good cardio, some push-ups, we need to work on your stamina there, man."

"Let's make a list, I'm sure we can get better together... so, any punches?"

"Well, just one..." He released before slugging him in the arm and supporting him again. "That's for abandoning us in the middle of the fight, I get that you are a hero, but come on, stick around a bit more, won't ya?"

"I'll try next time, Dash, I'll try." He nodded as they moved to head out as Jack remarked to the same orange as his.

"Hey, nice jumpsuit, kid! You too! And you! And- wait a minute! Danny, did you use the emergency Ops Center while we were away?" Danny grimaced before he spoke

"It was a scary emergency for me and the others, we were not treating the sudden hypnotic control properly, so... sure...?" That was supported by the Op Center floating down as Sam called out from inside with her and Kwan waving at him.

"Hi Danny! Thanks for letting us use the Ops Center!" They glared at him as he looked to Sam and spoke.

"Yeah, now let's get that Center back into place..."

* * *

The clean-up was a mess, but Valerie did stop by to hear the story and learn why her father was now sporting a firm lower torso while she was pulling a late shift at the Nasty Burger, now knowing where those free burgers were going, as Danny hummed with cleaning up from the short party, apologizing to all of the goers for losing his cool. "So I'm grounded for a month while I clean up the damage from the party."

"Look at the bright side Danny, at least we brought some decent radio to this town." Danny gave a fifty-fifty notion as Tucker belched, he looking green as he groaned.

"Man, I got serious heartburn from eating all those Nasty Burgers!"

"That's what you get for just getting burgers without a shake or anything..." Valerie answered as Danny pondered it out, Cedric calling with an apology from Topaz who had accidentally forgotten that she had made some plans with Youngblood and wanted to keep the fact that she was a Demi out of his brain.

"Still, I can't help wondering why Youngblood didn't abandon ship?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? After we escaped, I used my PDA to kick in the back-up power for the ghost shield in setting it in reverse. They're not going anywhere." That sounded rather amusing as Danny had his fan-club now his back-up and troop... once they recovered from the Sex Ed and Weapon Training that Cedric had planned for them, while under the waters of Amity, the last two ghosts were trapped under the bubble as the parrot pleaded.

"Let me out of here! Let me out!"

"Actually, it be more like 'Ahoy Matey! I'm marooned on this island!"

"Oh, shut your gob, you twit!" Who knows what will come along and pull them out of those waters soon as clearly, there was little else to be done for them there...


	24. S2 - Reign Storm P1

The Ghost Zone hummed with both power as it surged with the energy of the ectoplasm, but also tension as a box was emptied of its contents before the one who took it grinned as he took flight, making his way to the place in mind, a castle that loomed in the dark parts of the Zone before reaching the end of the halls he went through, the room a tomb with a sarcophagus looming in the back while a blade was embedded in a pumpkin there with a skeleton statue holding a ring in hand as he mused. "Here we are. Pariah's Keep. Home of the Fright Knight-" He pulled out the ultimate skeleton key before put it into the nostrils of the skeleton, dissolving the orb on the ring as he continued. "-And before that, The Ghost King. And here I am, Vlad Plasmius, with all his power in the palm of my hand."

He raised it with a 'hah', but it puffed out smoke as he looked shocked before frowning with a turn, the icon on the sarcophagus telling him exactly what he was missing. "Ah, of course. The Ring of Rage only works when one wears the Crown of Fire. It is the conduit for the Crown's incredible power and a powerful relic of the Ghost Zone." He soared over as he lodged the key in, the tension boiling over as he continued in muse, the spectral birds outside taking flight as the tomb open to the body of the former King. "Separately, they're nothing, but together, They give you power unimaginable." His muse stopped as the single eye, unhidden by a eye-patch, flashed open in green as it shifted free and stomped out of the tome as he towered over Plasmius before bellowing, his attire that of old Scotland, a pair of horns protruding from the giant's skull as one was broken while the other was curved, and resting on his head was the Crown that contained all that power.

"Who dares?"

"Uh, hello. Plasmius, Vlad Plasmius, did I mention I'm a huge fan of your work?" He smiled nervously, but the King known as Pariah Dark didn't agree as Plasmius could only grimace. "I guess not." The castle shook to an explosion that launched Plasmius out of the castle before Pariah pulled free the Soul Shredder and the pumpkin erupted as the Fright Knight exclaimed to his freedom.

"The Fright Knight lives!" The blade embedded itself in the pillar beside the Knight as Pariah Dark commanded, making his presence WELL known.

"To serve me." The Fright Knight was shocked as he exclaimed.

"King Pariah! You're up!" He bowed as the titan spoke with a dark tone.

"And perhaps it's time to remind you- and that intruder- who RULES this place!" Plasmius shook himself awake as he grimaced.

"I've got to get out of here before he-" Too late as Pariah warped upward to the battered Vlad. "-Finds me!" Pariah grabbed Vlad in hand as he spoke.

"You have freed me from my sarcophagus, and thus woken me from the forever sleep." He shifted Vlad in hand before his eye narrowed at a truth. "You're not the one who woke me! YOU ARE A DUPLICATE!" Vlad dissolved into pink mist as the real one had the Ring of Rage on his finger as Pariah turned with a growl. "So, where…" He stopped again before growling once more as the real Vlad tried to get the fright Knight on his side as he chatted with the Knight as Fright Knight worked to pull the Soul Shredder free.

"But surely, you and I could work out some sort of deal." For asking that of a loyal spirit, it was a death sentence, but Fright Knight's reply was a curious inquire.

"A deal?" They didn't spend too much time on it before a beam of red ectoblast scorched the ground as Vlad wheeled in the air before exclaiming to the Knight, hand up in the standard 'call me' sign.

"Call me. We'll talk." He gave a half-salute before soaring out of there as Pariah fired another beam, Vlad gasping before he was launched, the Ring slipping off only for him to keep it in his hand as he soared with reverting back into Masters as, on the other side of the Portal he was heading for, Jack and Maddie were hard at work making a exo-suit for operation in the Zone, from the brief notions and contexts of Danny and his friends and their thus-far discoveries. Jack plugged in a cord and beamed before activating the lower torso made, it getting charged before activating and stomping as Jack exclaimed.

"Sweet! The Fenton Pants are charged and operational!" The power shut off as the pair walked back over to the lower torso as Jack explained. "I'm telling you, Maddie, once this Ecto-Skeleton is finished, it will be able to beat back any ghost, no matter how powerful!"

"Yeah, but the interface is still glitchy and dangerous, Jack." She voiced as she continued to get it done properly. "We need to work the bugs out before-" Anymore was lost when Vlad came soaring out of the Portal, looking worse for wear as he gripped his right, hiding the ring from sight as Maddie recovered to exclaimed. "Vlad Masters?" Slowly, Vlad held up his left as he plead to the pair that approached his fallen form.

"Jack, my fat old friend... Help me." He fainted to Jack terrified of how Vlad was flung out of the portal, but also what could have done this sort of damage to him, a halfa of some considerable power...

* * *

Outside Casper High, Danny leaned on a tree as he beamed as Tucker and Sam joined him, Cedric also coming along with Talia by his side, Topaz having gone back into the Zone as she wasn't fully situated in the Real World as Sam spoke. "You seem pretty happy today."

"Why shouldn't he be? Last night, he shoved some wannabe opera ghost AND Skulker back into the Ghost Zone." Tucker answered with gesturing behind him as Danny continued the train of thought.

"And I still had time to finish Lancer's totally lengthy book report." He leapt from the tree with hands on his hips as he continued. "Nothing could spoil this day." He really should have cooled it some before another voice spoke.

"Think fast, Fentoni!" Danny moved on reflex as a football came hurtling at him and he fumbled with the catch, but succeed in keeping the ball in hand as Dash and Kwan held up their thumbs as they walked over. "Nice catch, could use some work though." They just walked on as Danny stood there with the ball as Cedric spoke.

"Well, at least they are rather tame about it, I half-expected that nothing would have changed to your relationship with the football players."

"Yeah, Dash and Kwan have been the best, Paulina is still dreaming though, but thanks for making that delayed wish for me." Cedric had made a wish with Talia that removed the memory of those that couldn't keep the secret. As it turned that, most of the students couldn't as the only ones that could hold it in were Dash, Kwan, Paulina, and Star which was a surprise and Valerie was filled in with the details and even heard from Topaz that she... had forgotten that she promised some time with looking out for Youngblood as kid ghosts were considered both protected and worth helping.

"Now, let's go, we don't want to be late for class." They nodded before heading out, Danny lightly beaming as he did blast a STOP sign and tripped Wes Weston with the fallen sign, just grinning as he shot a glare at him as he got it in his mind that Danny was Phantom, which was true, but everyone else that didn't know Danny believed he was crazy and those that did just added the fuel to the fire of him being obsessed with some form of theory... or five as they headed to the lockers and Danny stored his books in his locker as Sam mused.

"You realize you're playing with fire." Danny turned to her as he answered.

"Well, sometimes I have to use my powers for the greater good. He has been making claims that I am Phantom and really, while the idea is good for me extending my circle, I would rather not expand it too much right." He pointed as Weston's locker erupted with toilet paper cascading him as Tucker chuckled with the action as he commented.

"And come on, how good was that?" Sam did answer with a sarcastic tone.

"Nice. Using your powers to stuff toilet paper into a locker. He's going to find out it's you."

"Have you seen his grades?"

"Never gonna happen." Tucker and Danny pointed at each other before Danny continued.

"Besides, I made sure that I grabbed the regular paper, no way did I mess up from the hall closet." Cedric raised a brow before he pointed at the Demi as he asked.

"Didn't you say that your dad switched the rolls with the lab's, due to a heavy slip of ectoplasm?" Horror donned on Danny's face as Wes' voice shouted, Jack's face on each square of the toilet paper.

"Hey! THIS IS FENTON WIPE!" He growled and, while Wes was not as big as Dash, there was a reason why he was captain of the basketball team, those hands were made for snatching and grabbing. Sam just beamed as she spoke.

"'Never' is Karma's doorbell. Ding-dong, It's for you."

"Blast, I forgot about that!" He dashed away as he quickly headed for a hiding place, he couldn't depend on the A-Listers' protection right now as he bolted for the cafeteria, busting in to see Mikey and one of the band members, the underneath of the table blocked from view by the trumpet and he made his choice as Wes barreled in.

"FENTON!" He found no sign of him before bolting elsewhere, Danny blinking from underneath the table before turning, finally noticing Valerie under there as well as he spoke in confusion.

"Val? What are you doing here, don't tell me you're hiding as well? The 'Under the Nerds Playing Nerd Poker' is my spot."

"Ease up, Fenton. You're not the only one who needs to hide, you know."

"Yeah right, nothing is scary than those basketball hands or Dash's fists when he feels like it." Sadly, his idea of fear didn't fit with Valerie's as a nerdy chubby guy came rushing over with a picture of her in his hand as he wailed.

"Valerie! WHERE ARE YOU?! It's only three years until Senior Prom! WHY WON'T YOU SAY YES?"

"Three years? We could be here a while if he is that desperate, also sorry for making mine seem more than yours."

"Wanna check over our book reports? Also, you are forgiven, I like to keep myself off the market, but somehow, people just hound me." He beamed back as they did so in checking it over and making an attempt to get it done and move on, but time was not on their side as they were soon booking it away in hiding, rounding the corner into an alleyway and behind a dumpster when they stopped to Sam hiding there as she pointed to them.

"Hiding from Dash." Danny answered, there was a slight incident that got Wes off his back for a time while Dash was part of a purple stockpile with him, as Sam switched targets.

"Hiding from Nathan." She glanced to Nathan running past without stopping as the huntress's went to Sam. "You?" She just pointed over and the pair looked to find Pamela Manson running past... with a frilly, lacy, ribbony dress of dress as she exclaimed.

"Sammy-kins! At least try it on!" She ran off as the trio popped up from behind the dumpster of cover before Danny spoke up with a plan.

"C'mon. Over there. We can all hide in my house." They headed out as Valerie spoke.

"By the way, you guys, thanks for saving my dad, though WHY in all of Amity Park must he be trim from being worked on a ghost ship!?"

"We really don't know, but if the ship was being powered by adult power on exercise machines, then that explains why there are now machines in the lab for my dad's 'buns of steel'." They shook as they made it without incident.

"Well, be careful, just in case. The last thing we'd all want to do is invite a rival into your own home."

"Hey!" Sam shrugged as they headed in and Danny gasped to Vlad Masters sitting on the couch with a towel over his ruined suit, playing chess with Jack, while Maddie had a teapot in hand, Jazz just reading a book with caution in her eyes as Vlad greeted him.

"Ah, hello, Daniel!" He mused as he moved a chess piece, Sam just commenting as the friends had long known about Vlad since the 'reunion', though Danny swayed on the notion that he deserves a chance to be himself, but two of them just didn't accept it as easily, one being the girl by Danny's side.

"Too late." Danny nodded before he shook his head and inquired.

"You!" He walked over as he spoke. "What are you doing here?" Maddie frowned as she poured the tea, into Vlad's lap as he howled in pain, Danny hissing in pain as well as Maddie spoke.

"Totally valid question."

"Still steaming?"

"You have no idea." Clearly, coming out of the Portal got her in a mood about Vlad as she stomped away, it didn't help that she also was dismayed with one of his 'employees' being swayed over by a ghost to take the lot of them as Vlad answered.

"I was just, you know, passing through." Danny glanced up and down as Vlad spoke in a joking tone. "And then I saw that MARVELOUS Battlesuit and thought, since I can't just destroy Jack and take it, I suppose I'll steal its secrets right out from under his nose!" Vlad beamed to Jack's look of worry before both started to laugh as the teens just blinked to the interaction as both wiped their eyes laughing as Vlad spoke again. "I swear, I am such a josher. More tea, please." Maddie poured again, this time on the head as he yelped. "Not there! Ooh!" He got up frowning as Maddie just walked away with a scowl as Danny spoke, Vlad cleaning himself up from the tea.

"I don't know what you're up to, Plasmius. Actually, I partially do. You had told me after that issue with the money. Are you okay?"

"You are correct!" Danny cocked a brow as Vlad continued. "And yes, but say a word and I'll share your secret with-" He stopped as he noticed Valerie and exclaimed. "Ah! The young Miss Gray!" He spoke with folded hands as Valerie questioned.

"You know me?" Both Danny and Sam glanced to each other with smirks as Cedric was correct and Valerie just needed time to know it too.

"Knew it." Suddenly, a bust of Jack, strange as it was, started to beep with red eyes as both parents rushed back into the room and Jack flipped the bust's head open to a button before it turned a picture of the family to a grid which was called the 'Ghost Zone Radar' and it was showing... a growing number of ghost pixel moving to one point as Jack exclaimed in surprise.

"Galloping goblets, it's the Ecto-Exodus Alarm!" The teens ran over as Sam, Danny, and Jazz exclaimed in confusion, NEVER hearing about this beforehand.

"The Ecto-whaty-what?" The trio questioned as Maddie exclaimed as well.

"The Ecto-Exodus Alarm! An alarm that only goes off when we're about to face a massive ghost invasion!"

"Walker's invasion wasn't big enough for the Exodus Alarm!?" Danny exclaimed before he spoke to Sam and Jazz. "Stall them, I am going to check it out!" He ran to do so as Jack tried to barrel his way to the Portal as well before Sam stuck out her leg on 'accident'.

"Umm... Oops!" Somehow, Sam tripped the big guy as Maddie also tried to Jazz 'dropping' her book.

"Whoops!" Maddie went sliding into the closet on the ground floor as Sam and Jazz exchanged looks before bumping fists before Valerie tried to grab her gear to prepare before realizing that somehow, it wasn't on her as a voice spoke up.

"Looking for your ghost hunting equipment?" Vlad towered over her with pack in hand as she exclaimed.

"Ghost hunting? How do you know about my ghost hunting equipment?" She paused before facepalming. "Of course, you would be the guy supplying the weapons, but what do you want from me?" Vlad dropped the pack into Valerie's hands and ushered her along as he spoke.

"Please, walk with me." They left the house as Danny rushed down with transforming before position himself in front of the Portal as he spoke.

"Okay, here we go..." The tension grew before a familiar popped out and exclaimed.

"Beware!" Danny stared before he questioned.

"Why are you the first one out?" Any more he could have said was lost as a blast of blue hit Danny and knocked him down to the floor before a boot stomped on him, glancing up to Skulker and his weapon as he exclaimed. "Skulker?" But the hunter didn't address him as he yelled to the Portal.

"I told you there was a way out through here." The fear that donned on the faces of Topaz, Walker, an ectopus, and Johnny's shadow told Danny that something was VERY wrong before a stream of ghosts poured out like a flood as Skulker yelled. "Go! Go! Go! Goooo!" They poured out in a pillars and into the sky of Amity before Danny gripped Skulker's ankle and hauled him out of there before tossing him into the air with a shout.

"What the heck is going on here, Skulker!?" He primed a fist as Skulker was one for the fight, but a dragon came between them as Sidney exclaimed atop the dragon ghost.

"I know this might sound a little fishy, but Skulker isn't the bully here!"

"Bully?" Danny exclaimed as he shouted the words to the crowd of ghosts that lingered to hear him. "What are you talking about? What are all of you running from?" The only ghost that spoke was his 'friend' Topaz as she spoke, the ghost white streak down the right side matching her robin-blue flames.

"His name is Pariah Dark, the King of All Ghosts." Danny grimaced as a number of the ghosts looked ready to tear him apart.

"And while we may be in a hurry... We'll always have time for this." They then started to beat him into bits before closing in like a tornado before launching him into the ground and disbanding, Topaz heading to the new place, while Sam rushed out and exclaimed to the reverted Danny.

"You okay?" Danny narrowed his eyes to her as she apologized. "Sorry, standard question." She helped him up before asking about what just went down. "What was that about?"

"I dunno. But I think Vlad Plasmius just became the least of my worries." Meanwhile, Vlad was cruising with Valerie on her hover board as he inquired to a number of details.

"So, the equipment is tuber-locking and it functions properly, does it?"

"Heck yeah!" Valerie exclaimed as they landed on a building as continued. "It's like you designed it just for me!" Vlad jumped off as the board returned to Valerie before she questioned it, removing her hood and disabling the ghost protection to the suit. "Why would you do that? I'm like, fourteen."

"You're also the most capable ghost hunter I've ever seen!" She beamed as Vlad spoke. "You're smart, you're fast, you're strong. And most of all - you're motivated."

"Really?"

"Of course! Why else would I say such a thing?" He then joked again about the very notion. "I would have to be some sort of, oh, diabolical villain, to manipulate you like that!" He leaned back to highlight his 'villainy' before both laughed about it as he wiped a tear away. "Ho ho, I kill me! Or Jack!" He gasped as Valerie looked to confused to the action before he spoke, reaching into the jacket. "And, my dear, it's the reason I can trust you with this." He pulled out the Ring of Rage and displayed it in hand as Valerie questioned.

"A ring?"

"Not just any ring. It's been passed down from ghost hunter to ghost hunter for generations." He was clearly lying through his teeth as he handed it to her as she pondered it with putting it on.

"I don't know what to say." For a brief second, it felt like her body shifted before Vlad ran over and took her hand in a shake.

"Don't say anything, dear. But please, let's keep it our secret, hm?" He finished the sentence before a ghostly moan echoed and Valerie turned in surprise as she exclaimed.

"What was that?" She slipped the hood back on as Vlad mused.

"Probably Jack, goofing up again." He looked down to her as he continued. "I believe you have a job to do." She quickly activated the hover board as she spoke to him, shooting a parting word to him.

"I won't let you down, Mr. Plasmius." He flinched and she beamed under the helm before taking off, he humming as he voiced.

"Oh, of that-" He changed into his ghost form with remarks. "-You can be sure. And young Daniel will be so busy protecting you, stealing that battle suit will be a snap." He kicked the head of a ornate stone dragon, causing it to crash into the ground as he let slip. "Oops, didn't think it was going to be brittle, I barely used my strength..." He stared out as he spoke. "I just hope young Daniel will have the strength to ousted this danger before long, this is going to be a fearsome battle for him, I can't be a champion, he has to learn how to face the most powerful ghost in existence on his own...

* * *

Back in the Ghost Zone, the ghosts have deserted the Infinite Realms, except for a few that have taken to hiding away from the peering gaze of Pariah Dark as Fright Knight exclaimed to the commanders of the Dark Army. "Your armies are amassed?" The skeletons grunted in salute as Fright Knight continued. "Then on my orders-" But he was cut off as Pariah Dark demanded from behind him.

"On MY orders!" Dark straightened as he commanded. "Go to that world. Bring the Ring to me. And to those who stand in your way - show no mercy." The four bowed before the dark ruler as he towered over the legions of mindless skeletons that were made to serve without question, their grunts resounding to his command as another face spoke, far away and in a realm where only those who need to know can find it, as the chime of clocks was heard as his shadowed face spoke with red gazing back to the dim glow, a scar trailing down his left side as he spoke, he bound to his home, but still carried a deep regret for not stopping this threat sooner.

"And so... it begins..."

* * *

Casper High saw the return of the party, with the yelps of one Topaz as Cedric was holding her ear with a frown on his face with Talia glaring the same before Tucker asked Danny. "Dude, are you okay?" Danny glanced to his friend as he apologized. "Sorry, standard question. Late night?" Danny answered as they went to get lunch, Topaz getting let off the hook, but the duo kept an eye on her.

"Of course it was a late night! Every ghost I know - and about a million I don't - ARE LOOSE!" No sooner did he say that then an Ectopus appearing beside him, stole the tray, and ran intangible before Danny groaned. "Not to mention, I couldn't really sleep because my arch-enemy was in the guest room next to me."

"My parents sleep in the bedroom next to me. It's not the same, but I can't sleep either!" She shrugged as Valerie walked over in greeting.

"Hey Danny." He turned and greeted her back.

"Hey Val."

"'Hey Val'? Isn't that the same Val that's usually on a jet-sled trying to paste Danny?"

"Yep, and apparently next week, we're having cookies with Skulker!" The pair joked before Valerie took on a look of worry as she spoke.

"You might wanna... bag lunch it outside. This isn't exactly the safest place for you right now."

"What makes you say that?" He blinked before he remembered. "Oh, right, Wes." Before long, a pair of basketball players arrived behind him as the big guy must have been Wes' aid as he exclaimed from the side of the brute.

"Hey Fenturd, no teachers around to protect you, no nerds around to hide you." Tucker got angry as he exclaimed.

"Hey! I resent that! I'm plenty nerd!" The brute just slammed Tucker's food into his face as Danny exclaimed.

"Wes, take a hike, will ya? I'm way too tired to put up with you. Besides, shouldn't you be failing a test, kicking a puppy, or beating up somebody weaker than you now?"

"Come to think of it, yeah!" Wes moved to punch, only to get Danny's chin to go ghost and whiff completely, both slightly surprise before Danny recovered to discreetly melt the soles of Wes' shoes and he missing completely before getting his balance lost to the melted soles to which Valerie quickly dropped her lunch and kicked it, Wes' face going in as the students cheered, quickly quieting as the brute made to tackle Danny, but all watched as Cedric dashed and landed a punch right in the middle of the forehead and the guy toppled as Cedric spoke.

"For Pete's sake, don't be morons in picking a fight around me, I WILL end you if you try that again on anyone!" The cheer rang out as Danny beamed to Valerie for the save and Cedric for the backup as Sam, Tucker, Talia, and Topaz joined them as Tucker exclaimed.

"Sweet!"

"Is it? I know Wes is really a jerk, but what if he saw something?" Danny dismissed it as Valerie did see the beam and was thankful that Wes didn't actually hit him in the first place.

"He's not gonna see something." His tone turned angry as he ranted. "Besides, I'm tired of getting kicked around all the time after such a short break. Maybe it's time I do a little kicking back!" The angry look on Sam's face turned to worried before Cedric rested a hand on Danny's shoulder and he grimaced at the grip.

"Danny, are you REALLY going to be a bully here?" He quickly shook his head as Cedric continued. "Then just leave it to either the teachers to clean this up or the A-Listers, they are your backup now as well, they may not be friends, but the least they can do now is provide some backup to keep you OUT of trouble, Wes shouldn't have been allowed to do that, the A-Listers are allowed, but he is not part of them, he's in the middle."

"R-Right... I keep forgetting that at times." Danny rubbed his neck while at Fentonworks, trouble was afoot as Jack worked on the upper torso of the suit and called out to his buddy.

"Vladdy, my man! Could you hand me that watchermajigit?" Vlad picked up the 'thing' from the distant table and handed to Jack as he spoke.

"Here you go, old chum." He stood back up and leaned on the suspended torso before asking. "Any idea when this suit might be finished?" Jack rolled out from under the armor as he exclaimed back to Vlad.

"Quit pushing me, V-man, I'm working on it as fast as I can!" He rolled back under before a loud sound erupted from the Portal, that of a horse as Vlad stammered.

"Can we... pick it up a little bit?"

"What was that?" Maddie exclaimed as she came barreling down the stairs to the sound before Jack replied, sure it was just him.

"Could be me." He slid up and jumped up to the side of the suit as he exclaimed. "I made huevos rancheros for breakfast!" The Portal shook as the trio turned before the door was busted off, Vlad stepping to the side as Jack caught the door as the older Demi exclaimed with a few seconds behind... on accident actually.

"Jack. Look out. The door." The invader to have busted into the Real Word was none other than the Fright Knight he waved his sword in command.

"Go, and find the King's ring." A scourge of skeletons surged out and went searching outside as Maddie rushed over to the pinned Jack as she exclaimed.

"Jack, we have to shut the portal!"

"Yeah, I'll get right on that." But Maddie didn't waste time as she made to shut the portal down and to cut off the surge of ghosts into their world, but she was snatched by the Fright Knight as Jack exclaimed. "Hey!" He tossed off the door to exclaim, finding that Vlad shouted as well with the same phrase.

"LET GO OF THE WOMAN I LOVE!" Jack glanced to Vlad as he spoke.

"Like a dear friend, much like you." He then ranted as he gestured to the suit. "Is any part of that suit operational?"

"Well, the pants part, but it's not calibrated yet. Using the suit could kill you."

"Well then, maybe you should try it first. It is your battle suit!" The Fright Knight fired a beam at them as Jack saved Vlad with a tackle as he spoke.

"That it is, V-man. It's time to kick a little butt. Also, sorry for the tackle." He leapt away and slammed into the pants as he spoke with activating the machine. "And these are just the pants to kick it in! Neural receptors engage..." The receptors surged down the spine before coiling out around Jack's mid with bindings around his arms before he jumped back into the fray as the Fright Knight tried to hit Jack, but he was WAY to fast as Vlad was surprised before Jack leapt with a bicycle kick flurry, freeing Maddie before he exclaimed with another kick.

"The kick is up-" The kick slammed hard as Fright Knight went flying and Jack cheered as it felt like he got it in the goal post. "AND IT'S GONE!" He laughed as he continued to praise the suit. "Nobody can touch me while I'm wearing the Fenton-" He trail off as the suit was pulled from him as he voiced the change. "And the... Ectoskeleton... weakening... me..." Maddie exclaimed in horror as she dashed over to keep Jack from falling.

"Jack! The suit's draining you like a battery! Vlad, help me get these pants off Jack!"

"Phrasing, Maddie, and it 'won't' shock me?"

"NO, it won't!"

"Okay, then let's get Jack out of those things fast!" The pair worked to deactivate the pants and pull Jack out of them before it was too late. Meanwhile, the skeletons tore through the town in search while the ghosts that had escaped, and Topaz, hid out as Poindexter commented.

"Those poor humans. They're being overrun by ghost bullies!" He exclaimed as Topaz shouted back with pointing it out, having gotten out to bide time.

"Oh, who cares about them? That is the Ghost King's crew. He's on his way here!"

"Which means we have to camouflage ourselves. And you hear that?" Skulker peered down to the panicking crowds as he mused. "That's confusion and panic. Which means it's the perfect time to find our hiding place." The ghosts beamed at the idea as each headed out, Toapz and Sidney pausing before Poindexter pointed out something.

"Why are you pretending to still be a full ghost, didn't Cedric give you a second chance at being human?"

"Yeah..." Topaz groaned as she answered. "...But I am on the bad side of him and Talia right now about trying to escape during Youngblood's pirate time, so I figured I would just hang out somewhere else before they try to catch me."

"Well, if anything, I may as well be the voice of reason for Skulker, his metal head is just filled with hunting."

"Tell me about it, I can't even believe I dated the guy, now Danny..." She flushed green before Sidney answered.

"Say no more..." Lunch Lady based herself in the Nasty Burger, Box Ghost took a Box Store for himself, and Topaz 'politely' scared the goers of a store, while Skulker found his lodgings in a hunting store as he exclaimed.

"Away, humans! This is Skulker's lair now!" The hunters quickly booked it away as Sidney floating up and voiced his grievances of what they were doing as he spoke to Skulker.

"This is not on the square, Skulker. We're pushing these people from their homes. We're no better than the Ghost King."

"No one lives here, it's a store." He fired a crossbow and pinned Poindexter to the wall as Sidney just huffed in utter disbelief.

"This seems oddly familiar."

* * *

The legion marched on Casper High, but Danny spoke to his friends as he swayed on the notion of trust. "Sam, please, tell Tucker he's nuts." Tucker retorted as he spoke.

"I don't feel like I'm nuts."

"And I don't think he is either." Sam lectured as the increased tension could be the next thing to a full-blown fight. "Valerie is one of your enemies, Danny, a rival sure, but still an enemy. Do you think it's smart to be letting her this close?" Danny dismissed it as he explained, Cedric and Talia by his side.

"I can handle it." He beamed as he rested his hands on his hips. "Besides, she's not so bad... once you get to know her." Said person replied as she thanked him.

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself, Fenton." Both of them turned away as Valerie questioned. "What's up with them this time?"

"They're... Really good friends, and they're just being overprotective."

"Of what? It's not like we have anything more to hide between us." Danny shot a look to them as they frowned back before Danny's sense went off an he exclaimed.

"Woah! I gotta jet!" He rushed to get away, as is part of his usual plan before he slammed into a beef stick and yelped. "Shoot, the brute!" He glanced outside to the Skeletons that reminded him of the Fright Knight's bony legion. "Uh, look, this is really bad timing, can we reschedule?"

"Runt going nowhere, unless runt make me." Before Danny could, another came to his aid.

"He could, but I really wanted to do this!" Both looked to find Dash charge before slamming a fist into the player's face, knocking him out as Danny yelped.

"Dash! Thanks for the save."

"Anytime, Football and Basketball teams have been going at each other's throats for years, the way I hear it, it is usual for someone on different teams to knock out one of their rivals." The march echoed as Dash exclaimed. "Uh, weren't you going to do something, Fenton?"

"Yep, now get this guy out of here, I got some bones to rattle." Dash quickly pulled the guy away as Fenton turned into Phantom and he made to take off before another voice spoke.

"It feels good to use your powers on your enemies, doesn't it, Daniel?" Enraged, Danny blasted Vlad out of the building as he exclaimed with the power of the ectoblast slipping off.

"Actually, yeah, it does honestly." He flew after him as Valerie questioned, knowing the story, but decided to test the waters.

"Where's he running to all the time? Only guys I see running off like that have a job. Or a girlfriend." Sam turned angrily as Talia, Tucker, and Cedric backed up a bit as she countered.

"He doesn't have a girlfriend, Valerie."

"Mm hmm. Right."

"What are you talking about?"

"You like him."

"Uh, hello?" Sam waved her hands in the air as she commented in countering the statement. "He's my best friend."

"I'm sure he is. But if you like him- I mean, LIKE HIM like him, make a move." Sam looked worried as she already had one against her as Valerie continued, she WAS actually single still, even if Tucker tried desperately to be her boyfriend or something. "Because if you don't, somebody will." Talia's eyes popped as she raised a hand to her mouth, those were SHOTS FIRED! Before any of them could replied, the PDA in Tucker's hand went off and he looked at it as a news cast was made.

"This is Tiffany Snow, with Action News. And this is the Ghost Emergency Broadcasting System." The screen changed to the march of the skeletons as the news continued. "Amity Park is in the midst of a massive ghost attack. And now, here's Lance Thunder with the Ghost Weather!" The image changed again as the man known as Lance Thunder exclaimed to the changes.

"As you can see, we have random ghost activities in restaurants, malls, and this box store." He continued as the army marched in front of the box store shown in explanation. "If you look to the west, you can see a huge wave of ghost skeletons heading from the center of town towards Casper High." Maddie had managed to pulled Jack out of the Fenton Pants while Vlad had to address something going on, she was still glad that Vlad helped out Jack at least a bit as Jack stammered to get the kids.

"We have to... have to..."

"Jack, you're still wiped out from the Fenton Pants. I'll get Danny and Jazz." Maddie headed off as Jack exclaimed with hand to his head.

"That... works too." On the other side, at Axion, Damian Gray watched the news broadcast as Thunder lost his cool.

"All parents are advised to immediately pick up their children and RUN! RUN LIKE THE WIND!" Somehow the skeletons found the man as he yelped for mercy. "Not the hair! NOT THE HAIR!" The broadcast cut as Mr. Gray gasped, no way was he losing his baby girl to ghosts of all things.

Down on the football field, Danny and Vlad faced off before Danny charge, to only get choked with a hand as Vlad exclaimed.

"Calm down, Daniel! I didn't come here to fight you, I have other things to worry about!" He tossed Danny to the ground as a horse was heard as the legion and the Fright Knight charged before both dodged out of the way as the goal post was slashed off, cleanly, before Danny started to blast through the legions before one nearly caught him off-guard before Vlad fired, returning with energy in his hand as Danny exclaimed.

"You're helping me now?" Danny voiced as he continued to bust apart the skeletons around them. "Whaddya want, my mom's cell number?"

"No! But really, if you wanted to give me her number..."

"You dork, she doesn't have a phone, she doesn't believe in phones actually fighting ghosts, sorry for the sarcasm."

"No problem, and honestly, I thought everyone..." Any more was lost when a gauntlet hand snatched up Vlad and hoisted him high as the Fright Knight exclaimed.

"The king's prize. Return it!"

"I don't have it. But, if you join me, perhaps toge-" Both were blasted as the Fright Knight glanced up to Valerie soaring in as she exclaimed.

"Guess what, everybody! The best ghost hunter in Amity Park is here! And that means, you're about to get your BUTTS HANDED TO YOU!" Vlad dusted himself off as he spoke to Danny.

"She really is quite good at this."

"She also thinks we're part of the enemy."

"Good point." Valerie tossed some explosives as both dodged out of the way as the legions tried again to Talia and Cedric joining as well as Cedric yelled.

"Huntress, ease on those explosives, we are looking to bust skeletons, not damage public property!"

"Just let her have her fun, Exorcist." Talia lashed out as the ground surged in a wave and smashing her collection of bones. "We have some skulls to shatter here!"

"Peachy." The additional firepower started to turn the tide in their favor as the students watched it happen with Jazz pleading.

"Guys, please, be careful." No sooner did she say that, then nearly every parent in Amity drove right up to the crowd of students as Sam exclaimed at no real good cars.

"Doesn't anybody in this town drive a COMPACT CAR?" Damian charged out and spoke to the group as he pleaded.

"Kids! Have you seen Valerie?" Sam, Tucker, and Jazz glanced back before they exclaimed.

"She's with Danny." Maddie then rushed over from the GAV as she exclaimed.

"Kids, have you seen Danny?"

"He's with Valerie."

"Who's Valerie?" Valerie gripped Danny's collar as she exclaimed.

"Alright, Phantom, what's going on here?"

"That." Danny pointed as Fright Knight and several skeletons charged at them with the skeletons going for a frontal assault, only to be turned away by Vlad blasting them with duplicates and reverting back as Valerie voice, still not on the full page about him.

"Uhh... thanks?"

"You're welcome." He freed himself as he made to explain the issue with what limited knowledge he had. "Look, I know this is going to be hard to believe-" Vlad was tackled out of the air as Danny gestured to the Knight as he tried. "But that guy is the problem right now, and I could really use your help." Fright Knight got up with sword brandished to strike as Valerie spoke back, unsure of what they were suppose to be doing.

"I trust you, Danny, but I don't really trust Plamius, something else is going on here."

"I agree, but right now, you don't have to trust him..." He extended out a hand as he exclaimed. "...Just fight with me." Valerie glanced to the hands before shaking it, Danny beaming before the two charged, Fright Knight make to cut Vlad, but a blast from Danny sent an ectoblast into the ghost, followed up with a punch from Valerie as she hissed, her suit not suited to be giving any physical hits, especially to metal as Vlad got up and knock the Knight to the ground as Talia and Cedric cleared out the approaching skeletons behind them before the Fright Knight exclaimed with standing up.

"Fools! All I wanted to do was seize the Ring and return to Pariah's Keep. But now, you give me no choice." He towered before turning the sword upside down, its blade enveloped in fire. "By the authority vested in me by my Lord and Liege-" He slammed the blade into the ground and the skeleton came to a halt before the Fright Knight continued as the legions came to a stand still as the blade was engulfed in a column that seared into the sky..

"I claim this town now and forever under the banner of Lord Pariah - The King Of All Ghosts!" The pillar soared up before pluming across all of the town in a massive dome, all paralyzed as the dome soared out and cut Amity off form the Real World as the face of what was known as Pariah Dark adorned itself on the outside, claiming the town in that haunting green as Danny voiced.

"Valerie's right... there IS something more going on and we are going to have to face it before long." Talia and Cedric nodded as the battle and the war was not over yet, not one bit...


	25. S2 - Reign Storm P2

Amity Park, a 'nice place to live' wasn't so nice to live in now as the whole town was consumed in a green dome, the members that fought the forces on the football field confused to the sudden green before Danny soared up and slammed into the shield, unable to pass it as Valerie wheeled, about to hit the Fright Knight, but he backhanded her away as she tried to keep on her feet before toppling to the ground, her armor retracting as Danny exclaimed. "Valerie!"

"My pawn!" Danny, Talia, and Cedric gave him a odd look as Vlad corrected himself. "I mean, that poor girl." The four of them rushed over to her as the Fright went into a warning and demand.

"The sword has sunk, your die now cast, The sword removed shall signal fast. Make reappear, The Ring thou hast, or your next day shall be your last." With a single gesture of pointed finger, he disappeared into a swarm of bats that flew over the frozen legions before Danny questioned to what Fright Knight meant.

"'The Ring thou hast'?" Vlad shrugged to Danny's narrowed brow as Talia spoke with lifting Valerie up with Cedric.

"I have been across the world of the mortals, the Infinite Realms is nothing I am too familiar with."

"Which means that something else could have been done beforehand." Cedric glanced to Vlad as he chuckled nervously before Maddie's voice bellowed from a loudspeaker.

"Children of Amity Park! Report to the safe bosom of the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle!" The vehicle drove through the frozen ranks as Vlad and Danny gasped.

"Mom!/Maddie! I can't let her see me like this!" Both people supporting Valerie facepalmed as Danny took off and Vlad teleported away, the armor receded and the transformation reverted as Danny ran from behind a tree and approached the duo as the GAV drove up and the two parents glared before Cedric spoke.

"She was like this when we found her. Danny was going to find you, but came back to meet up." They quickly got Valerie back to Fentonworks as everyone grouped together in various places to hide out the sudden emergence of the dome as Sam and Tucker watched it happen on the TV, worried of the sudden change in place and environment.

"Welcome back to Big Scary Dome Watch. I'm Tiffany Snow. We are in our fourth hour of captivity. And Amity Park remains cut off from the outside world." The broadcast continued as it pulled up a screen for Lance Thunder behind several crews trying in vain to bust through the dome. "With more on that, outside the safety of our studio, is our own Lance Thunder. Lance?" Lance was going into a rant from the sound if it from the start.

"Why the heck do I have to do this? I'm a weatherman, for the love uhh..." He trailed off before making the report. "Tiffany, despite the odd circumstances, an eerie calm has fallen over Amity Park, emergency teams still having no luck in piercing the dome." Drills by the dozens continued their operation, whether mobile or stationary as Lance Thunder closed it off. "Wishing he had taken that job in Chicago, this is Lance Thunder, Action News." The set turned off as Valerie, Talia, Danny, and Cedric turned away to the massive suit of armor that was being worked on and Danny rather surprised to see Vlad in more comfortable clothes to work with the machine as Maddie spoke to Vlad wiping his brow.

"This suit is the only hope we have to punch through that dome." She shook her head, however, as several cords were sparking on the back as she finished. "But I still don't think we'll be able to perfect the neural receptors." At that point, Jack spoke up with a cold ice pack on his head, slightly in a daze as he spoke it.

"Which is why I'll wear the suit. If anyone's gonna beat that ghost back into the Ghost Zone, it's me." He had stood up, but swayed a bit as Maddie exclaimed otherwise.

"No, Jack, look at you! You're still wiped out from the last time!" Vlad slipped on his suit as Danny leaned over as he commented.

"It kind of kills ya, doesn't it? How much they love each other at times?"

"I have other things to worry about and so do you." But Vlad still found the time to trip Jack, deeply considered for his friend, but didn't want to show it in the face of adversity here. "And yet, I will always have time for that." Valerie trekked up the stairs as she groaned to the injures she got, Talia and Cedric helping her along before they sat down with Sam and Tucker as Tucker questioned.

"You feeling any better?"

"A little. Though I'm surprised you care..." Valerie spoke as she asked. "You guys don't like me very much, do you?"

"We don't know you very much. And honestly, you used to be pretty mean to us." Valerie bobbed her head in agreement as Sam continued. "You think we're just gonna start hanging out with you without wondering what you want? And... where you got that ring?" All glanced to the green ring that was on her finger before she replied.

"That officially falls under the category of none of your business." She blinked a few times before she spoke again. "Well, I am not sure about it myself, Vlad said that was passed down from ghost hunter to ghost hunter." Cedric nodded with Talia as Tucker and Sam still looked miffed about it.

"A believable answer, but if the Fright Knight is looking for a ring, and you just suddenly have a ring, then clearly, more must be said."

"As it is, the official meeting of Team Phantom is now in order." Sam's and Tucker's eyes widened with Valerie as Danny came up.

Hey guys." He walked over before sitting down. "Cedric is right, we need to talk about this and we are going to do it as a team, not alone, we need to expand our circle."

"We have our circle, Danny; You, me, Tucker, and Cedric, that's who we can trust!" Sam exclaimed as Talia huffed in disbelief before Danny slammed a fist, all jumping to the small shake that was caused.

"I GET that Valerie is a ghost hunter and ONE DAY, she will stab me in the back because you are making her distrust us." She looked down as Danny continued to glare at his friends. "But at least, Cedric and Talia are WILLING to give her a chance, I still can't believe that you are more willing to keep us undermanned about this instead of TRYING to figure out a way to stop this." Both looked down in shame as Danny continued. "I don't hate either of you, we have been together since Pre-K and First Grade, our friendship isn't that easy to break, but it can be fragmented honestly." With that, he breathed as he spoke again. "Now, riddle me this. 'The sword has sunk, your die now cast, The sword removed shall signal fast. Make reappear, The Ring thou hast or your next day shall be your last'. Those were the final words of the Fright Knight, spirit of Halloween and fear, before he disappeared into bats and left the Soul Shredder in the field."

"The Ring thou hast?" Valerie questioned as she glanced down to the Ring. "Why would some ghost, a VERY powerful one from the sound of it, want with a ring?"

"That is the question and I think we need to consult with someone who would be familiar with the Ghost Zone in the end." All started to think about it before Sam spoke up.

"Skulker... He may be a goof to us, but he is claimed to be the 'Ghost Zone's greatest hunter', I bet that he has traveled a great amount of distance throughout the Zone and has..."

"Enough..." Talia spoke up as she rubbed her temples. "I understand your naming of the world that is intertwined with your own, but to us, the 'Ghost Zone' is known as the Infinite Realms." Cedric raised a brow to her as he spoke.

"Been keeping that hidden until now, Talia?"

"The naming was bothering me, but I made no effort to correct Manson about it, or Foley... or anyone for that matter." They all nodded as Danny spoke.

"Vlad must have given you that ring to keep it out of the Fright Knight's hands, maybe Skulker CAN tell us what we need to know, but it wouldn't be easy."

"Nope, it is not going to be easy as he has sworn to take your pelt."

"Eww..." Valerie moaned and the members glanced to her as she looked a bit green and turned to Danny as he spoke.

"I told her when our flour sack was captured and we were forced into a book situation of the 'Most Dangerous Game' with Skulker."

"Well, that explains the flour sack and your increased trust in her greatly, actually." Sam spoke as they formed up, the humans taking the Specter Speeder and the Demis taking to the air as they searched for Skulker before getting some feedback that there was some robot terrorizing the hunting game store and they headed over there, the two phasing into the store with Thermos in hand before Talia stopped Danny from using it.

"Don't you think it... odd how flat he looks?" Danny looked and spoke.

"Whoa, when did he make this? They must be expecting us then." He spoke with lifting the cut board cutout of Skulker up before the Scepter Speeder came in and they looked around. "Skulker, we know that something else is going on, can we please just talk it out here?" The shadows played tricks as Danny spoke. "Talia, can you please light the room up?"

"Of course." She generate a orb of flames before raising it high, it turning bright as all closed their eyes as the dark room was lit up before opening them again, the ghosts that had assembling blinking the light away before Talia floated over and took Topaz's ear. "Again? This is becoming an issue of being rebel right now.

"Oh, leave me alone, Talia, you were not being hit on every second of waiting when that ghost barrier came up."

"No, but you could been more understanding than just running away." Cedric answered as the humans stepped out before Danny spoke.

"Skulker, you have traveled the Realms, what is the Fright Knight's goal?"

"It's not the Fright Knight's, it's his lord's goal and, right now, that king has returned to rule over all, but if a tale is what you seek, then I will give it to you..." While it could have been a mess before Poindexter cut in, it was calm before they gathered around a plug-in fire as Skulker started, having heard the tale across the Realms themselves. "It was many years ago. Before you. Before me. Before most of us. His name was Pariah Dark." The fire started to feel like it was highlight the behemoth of a ghost, likely of Scottish or Viking origins with a single eye, much like the legends of Odin, the All-Father as Skulker continued. "And he ruled the Ghost Zone." Crownless, but given the crown by the hand of the Fright Knight as he smiled with evil intent as Skulker pressed on. "He was a ghost of such power and magnitude, only he could control the entities contained within the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage." The party looked to the Ring as if it was alive in some way with Skulker continuing story. "When wearing both - he could do anything." Danny and Talia felt that energy from the story, clearly, he was strong enough to see the notion of terror through them by the mention of it when both objects were on his being.

Skulker didn't leave it off as he explained once more to what brought the King down. "Until a group of powerful ancient ghosts banded together in a last ditch effort to defeat the King." They succeeded in victory as the ancient king toppled and both the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire were removed before they sealed him away in a coffin or a sarcophagus. "By locking him within the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep..." The ghosts, their duties complete, departed with destroying the ground where the castle rested, causing it to depart among the Realms for all time as Skulker finished. "Or so we thought." Topaz spoke, taking to the side of the humans and Demi as she spoke, resting her chin on her hand there.

"He's only been freed for a day and he's already destroyed our homes." Cedric hummed as he asked to all of them.

"If he could do all that without the Ring, then the Ring is a conduit for his power to focus through, but what of the Crown of Fire? You said that both were taken away from Pariah in his defeat, how has he been able to even hold on to the Crown or obtain it..."

"The ultimate key..." All turned to Danny as he spoke. "Vlad told me that he wanted to take away both tools to study them, I didn't believe him fully, but if he had returned to our world with the Ring, then it is clear that somehow, the Crown of Fire returned to Pariah in some way and was trapped with him in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep." Danny hummed as the mystery developed. "But even so, we have to stop him..." He stood up and spoke. "We can't let Pariah Dark rule again, we need to shut him down and fast before he has the chance to take away more of our homes."

He hung his arms down as he spoke. "I get that it will be dangerous, it may be a doomed mission, the destruction could be fatal, but we can't just wait for him to hit us, we NEED to hit him back." He turned to the ghosts as he asked. "Who is willing to join me in this fight...?" Most of them paused before laughing out loud and flying elsewhere as Tucker answered.

"You should probably take that as a 'no'."

"I guess even ghosts are afraid of a dictator..." But Danny was just worried before they returned to the house, Danny finally getting the nerve to speak up as he asked for Vlad to met him at the Specter Speeder as the well-dressed man asked.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

"You're putting innocent people in danger. It stops. Now." But Vlad didn't take to the warning at all as he spoke back.

"Really?" He laughed as he continued. "You know what I'm up to? Your tiny teen mind has pieced together the rest of my plot?"

"That you stole the Ring, woke the Ghost King, gave it to Valerie to hide it, and now you're waiting for your chance to steal it back?"

"That's pretty good. It's almost as though I barely consider you a threat." Danny groaned as his eyes flashed to Vlad 'shaking' as he mused. "Oh, there's that temper of yours again. What ARE you going to do?" He leaned in close as he continued. "What if Valerie sees us, hm?" Valerie was listening on the other side of the door as Vlad just made reference to their unique status.

But Danny was not in the mood for games as he knocked out the light, binding them in darkness to Vlad's remark. "Oh, sugar cookie." Danny blasted once more as he knocked Vlad out of the shield and chased after him as Phantom outside the shield before slamming him into a billboard as Vlad commented. "Sneak attack, very good, Daniel." He transformed as he mused to get under Danny's skin. "You're getting more like me with every battle." Danny growled back as he ranted.

"I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU!" He tackled Vlad and slammed into the football field as Vlad remarked.

"Oh, you're not? Using your powers to get back at people you don't like? Throwing the first punch? You're more like me than you know." He backhanded Danny and grimaced as Danny found the sword and pulled himself up as Danny clenched his fist as he spoke.

"The only thing you and I shared here is that we are too scared to make the first move of fixing this mess." He gripped the handle of the Soul Shredder and continued. "This sword serves more than just a barrier, doesn't it?" Vlad growled back before he looked down to his hands and back up as he answered.

"Yes, the sword is a signal of surrender, the Fright Knight's sword is able to send people to their worse nightmare, but by royal decree of the Dark Lineage, it can teleport all of us into the Ghost Zone, so that Pariah himself can claim Amity Park as his own." Danny held it tight, but made no move to pull it free as Vlad spoke. "All I sought to do was obtain the two relics and store them away from the eyes of the ghosts that fill the Ghost Zone, but how my luck and fortune of doing so was in vain, as the Crown of Fire had long before returned to Pariah in his slumber, no one knowing how it was done, and I was too brash in trying to take it away from the most powerful ghost I have ever encountered in my life." He extended out his hand to Danny as he spoke. "Yes, I am afraid and I don't want you to draw that sword for, if you do, you throw us all into the Ghost Zone." Danny hummed before he spoke.

"Thanks, Uncle Vlad, I just wanted an answer out of you and I was so angry to hear nothing from you, but heard the tale of Pariah from Skulker of all ghosts..." The grip tightened as he continued. "But... deep down, I know what I want to do, I want to save all of Amity Park from this threat and we can't do that under a dome decreed by a king... So..." Danny breathed as he rested both hands on the blade. "I want to give him a fight, to show him that I will rebel against his oath and creed." The sword shook and trembled as Danny just focused on not pulling the blade, but fragmenting it. "This is a war and I have not surrendered, he has no power over me here or you, we are free to choose this fight and win..." Vlad hummed before he rushed over, hand gripping the hilt as well and stopping the fragmenting.

"You're right, I have been a coward, I always didn't believe that I could do good in the world when my hatred for Jack fueled me, but I now noticed that I could have been more, a man on the edge rising more to be strong and more resistant to the creed of a fallen king..." As one, they pulled the sword free and watched as the dome shattered to pieces like glass falling from the sky before the dome eroded to the dark-green of the Ghost Zone, the skeletons awaking once more to fight and attack as the Soul Shredder shook in their gripped hands before flying into the hands of the Fright Knight as Pariah bellowed.

"You have chosen to surrender!" Pariah Dark fired a red ecto-beam at them, but both dodged as Danny shouted.

"We don't care about your rules here, Pariah!"

"You are of a bygone age, the time for your reign has faded away long ago!"

"And yet, I still stand..." A public monitor came alive as Jack and Maddie called out.

"Citizens of Amity Park! This is Jack and Maddie Fenton!"

"Hi everybody!" Maddie waved with a smile as she got serious again and Jack exclaimed with the two of them broadcasting from the lab.

"Malevolent spirits have pulled our entire town into a dimension known to us humans as - the Ghost Zone." Damian worked the security terminal in the Fenton Lab as Valerie watched it happen before he worked with the tools and devices.

"I'm launching the Ghost Zone probe now." A probe was launched as he worked with the shield. "I'm also increasing the Ghost Shield's radius to protect the city." He cranked it to the max and pushed the skeletons out of Amity completely while getting the people inside the expanding shield as Jack called out.

"The fact that we are currently in an alternate form of reality would be a lot cooler if it weren't for the fact that we are all in mortal danger." Sadly, it only hit most of the city as Damian continued his calculations.

"The Ghost Shield's cranked to capacity, and our probe of the Ghost Zone is operational." Valerie frowned before she made to get going, doubling in pain for a moment but kept going, no way was she leaving Danny or Vlad out there for those ghosts to destroy as the shield protected the town from the skeletons that serve Pariah's army.

_"_For your own safety, please run under the Fenton Anti-Ghost Shield where our daughter Jazz will be serving tea and cookies!" Maddie really didn't seem to know tact as she continued in pulling Jazz into the sight. "And boys, she's single!"

"Mom!" Jack came back on screen as he kept the blame off him as Valerie took flight.

"But more than anything, know this: This is not my fault! I repeat, this is not my fault!" Pariah destroyed the monitor as he exclaimed to the pair of Danny and Vlad.

"These two are ghosts AND humans!" He readied his blast to their distraction. "Is there no end to this day's surprises?" Valerie had that in mind as she exclaimed.

"Hey Stoneface! Surprise!" She blinded the titan form blasting as she soared in before he cleared it away to fire a beam from his single eye and she dodged, just to hit a post and groan before she pointed a rocket at him which misfired and she ripped off the glove to stop it from burning her as Fright Knight's eyes zoomed in on the prize sought as he exclaimed.

"The Ring! Give that to the King NOW! "Valerie glanced down and loaded the Ring on a missile that she exclaimed with.

"If you want it, then go get it!" She fired and the missile flew to Pariah quickly leaving to take it as Valerie rushed for her board and snatched the pair of Demis off the ground and away from the Fright Knight, they tiring out in reverting back to human as the Knight gave chase, chasing the trio and moving to fire a beam before he was surprised by another.

"Not so fast, Knight of Fear!" Cedric soared in and bashed Fright off Nightmare as he joined Valerie. "Talia is waiting for us on the edge." The hidden eyes took in the burned tissue as he spoke. "Get that wound checked out with us, I get the feeling that this battle is far from done."

"If Danny and Vlad wanted us to fight, then that is exactly what we are going to do, but we need a plan."

"I got one, but that is for later, none of the Dark Army, nor the ghosts or humans know about the place, we just need to bide time for now..." A blast busted Valerie's engine as she came to skidding on the ground before Cedric blasted the Fright Knight back again before diving into the shield behind Valerie as he lifted her up to the Fright Knight's anger of hacking in vain at the shield as the three conscious there lifted the Demis up and helped Valerie limp away as the spirit of fear shouted.

"This... Is... Not... Over!"

"Actually, my loyal servant, it is!" Pariah answered as he had returned with ring in hand, slipping it on as his full power came to bare and the Fright Knight bowed before the full glory of Pariah before the King turned. "Come. We have plans to make." He stomped away as the asphalt melted in a pool of fire as Pariah continued with the Fright Knight following. "For soon this... Human world... Will also be mine!" Indeed, the threat of Pariah had grown and it may be too late for the Human World to resist this tyrant of such abnormal power...

* * *

Jazz did bring out cookies, but Valerie, Cedric, and Talia quickly returned with Danny and Vlad onto a bed and chair in Danny's room before Valerie disengaged the suit and mumbled form her battered form.

"Maybe I'll just rest... for a second." She fainted against the wall as Talia made sure that she didn't any more hurt while treating the burn as Vlad stirred and gasped.

"The Ring! It's gone!"

"We were lucky, for the moment, Pariah went after it when Val launched that sucker, but the Fright Knight made chase to finish the three of you off." Cedric answered as his armor receded and Talia had reverted back in a swift change, the shield expanded out couldn't be concentrated on them and thus, they could freely shift between forms. "We bought time, but who knows how much we did make in the long run..." The hefty foot steps came up and Vlad were invisible as the door opened to only the four there as Jack mused.

"Ah, y'see? I told you they were up here! What do the kids call it... Hanging out!" They closed the door as Danny stirred and gasped to the state of Valerie as Cedric spoke.

"Bye, Vlad." Danny turned to where Vlad must have been before he got up and helped get Valerie into... his bed, Valerie and Cedric must have carried them into his room before they stopped to patch them up as Sam and Tucker conversed in the lab.

"I'm getting worried." Both were heedless of Vlad passing through the floor as Sam continued with a tea cup in hand. "We haven't seen Danny or Valerie in hours."

"Ah, they're fine." Jack answered from the stairway as he commented. "They've been up in Danny's room. Alone. For hours." That shocked Sam into action as she dropped the tea cup and rushed upstairs with Tucker behind her as Jack shrugged, the pair bursting in as Sam exclaimed.

"Danny! You're okay!" Talia glanced to the goth as she remarked to the battered look Valerie now had. "Whoa. What happened to her?"

"You name it. Fright Knight, Ghost King, Vlad-" He rested a hand on her forehead in concern as Talia nodded that she was going to pull through as Danny beat himself up about it. "All of my enemies. Everything I thought I could handle, but couldn't." He removed his hand as Sam and Tucker came closer in Tucker trying to tell Danny otherwise.

"Dude, you can't blame yourself for this. It's not your fault." Danny didn't change the fact as he grew angry at the King for doing this to one of his friends.

"Maybe not. But it is my responsibility." He stood up and transformed as Cedric spoke.

"I got some work that needs completing and I'll see if I can help in the fight, just find something that can stand against the King himself, even with his powers at full." Danny nodded as he took the two friends downward while Cedric and Talia nodded and headed out, Valerie stirring to do something as well. The trio arrived as Maddie revealed the weapon that could just that, the same thing they were working on during this whole craziness.

"And while the Ecto-Skeleton can enhance your natural abilities one-hundred fold-" She pulled it away to the humanoid machine that much have towered at ten or twelve feet. "-Using it could be fatal." Jack stepped up to the plate as he answered.

"Which is exactly why I'll be using it. Because if the suit's going to be killing anyone, it's gonna be me." Amazingly of a woman and half Jack's size, Maddie was certainly capable as she brought down her husband with a chop to the head as she exclaimed as the team watched the sudden chain of events.

"You're already weak from the first time you used the suit. I'll be going in." Jazz must have take the same classes as she brought her mother down in the same strike.

"Forget it, Mom. Danny needs both of you. I'm doing this." Jazz was, sadly, brought down by Jeremy as he exclaimed.

"I'll do it!" Strike from Pamela ended her husband as she exclaimed.

"I'll do it!" Honestly, they could have sold showings of how each and every parent and member of authority was suddenly brought down with a chop as Danny chuckled as he answered, the invisibility slipping away to no one's notice.

"I thought I was going to have to blast everybody with a ecto-ray, but this is much more efficient."

"What? Danny, no, you can't!" Sam exclaimed as Danny landed with his friends as he answered, his will of being the hero greater than his interest of standing to the side.

"I'm the only one who has a chance to save our lives."

"Somebody oughta tell her that." Tucker's point made Sam and Danny turned to Valerie, gripping the mayor's collar while the floor was littered with knocked out figures before Danny shouted to the Red Huntress.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to step away from the suit, Huntress!" Valerie let the mayor drop as she countered.

"Back off, Danny. I don't know how you were able to change in the Fenton's Ghost Shield - But this is my fight."

"No, it's not. Not anymore." Danny flew over to her as Damian came down and exclaimed to the sight.

"Hey! What's going on in here?" Sam and Tucker sneaked upstairs as Valerie exclaimed to Danny.

"You're not the boss of me!" Danny narrowed his brow as he spoke.

"You are already injured right now, the fact you are willing to toss your life away is not okay in my books!"

"You are not taking this chance in tossing..." Danny shouted at her as he felt his own hidden resentment boil over.

"I HAVE NO LIFE TO GIVE IF YOU ARE INSISTING ON SAYING THAT I AM NOT GIVING MY ALL AS A HERO!" He pushed her away as he spoke, to her shock. "What do you think I am anymore, I am NOT human and who knows how many people are going to believe that I am an abomination to put down. You were just like them, that I deserved no chance to exist, because I am not human, I am some malefactor to destroy!"

"N-No, Danny, I-I didn't...!"

"Yeah..." Danny's gaze hardened to her as he finished. "Because I feel like it all the time when there is suddenly nothing I can do and I am left with my own resentment, I want to finish this fight for everyone, but I am not sure if anyone will redeem me when the word goes out..." He breathed as he gazed back to them. "I... had a lot of energy from that, I had ghosts and people putting me down and no one was fixing the damages as they are just as transparent as my own powers, you can just see through them at times." Valerie collapsed as Danny took the suit without a word, taking it up to the roof as Damian made to speak.

"It's okay..."

"NO, IT IS NOT OKAY!" Valerie howled as she ripped off her mask and hurled it at the ground as she wailed, tears dripping down in regret. "I messed up, I am suppose to be his friend, his ally, and I..." She gripped a fist to her face as she just sobbed. "I messed up... I am no hero, I'm no great ghost hunter, I am just a terrified girl trying to fight back against a world that is so different to me... I just created holes when I should have been fixing them in the first place..." She just sobbed before Damian bend down and and gave her a hug.

"You are not in trouble, Valerie, there is no reason to hold back..." She finally broke down in his arms as she ranted, becoming the Red Huntress and doing what she could to give them a life back, but she had learned to be better and be part of a team... and its leader was someone she didn't even see hurting as he was a self-sacrificing type of guy, he would always put his life ahead of everyone else when it came down to it. Danny breathed as he landed the Ecto-Skeleton and reverted back to Fenton in popping the dome open and getting seated in as he went through the check up.

"Activate neural receptors..." The receptors lined his back and linked him to the Skeleton as he continued. "Initiate power-up sequence..." He pulled back on the controls as the suit started to charge and move with his actions as the battery continued to climb, not draining like how his dad looked as he commented. "Yeah, there we go." He paused as the door to the roof opened and he commented. "I can see you over there, you know." Both came out as Sam pleaded with him to change his mind.

"Danny, please."

"C'mon, guys. You didn't think it was always going to be as easy as shoving the Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos, did you? I'll be back."

"Your mom used the word 'fatal'." They looked helpless to the matter as the Skeleton moved with Danny's own movements.

"Guys, I'll be back." They looked up to him downtrodden as he realized that... he was overplaying it too much, this could be the final battle of Danny, period. So, it was best that he get any emotions out of the way, to have a final word given for when it was indeed over as he bent down on one knee and asked, his piece was already given to Valerie, so it was fair that he hears what the other two had to say. "But... If there's anything you wanted to say to me... Now might be an excellent time to do it." Sam looked up as she stammered for her words.

"Uhh... I-" She couldn't even get the chance as the sky stormed and raged with red clouds before forming Pariah's face as he bellowed.

"Humans! Hear my decree!" Danny didn't let it go as he spoke with standing up.

"Well, that's my cue. Tuck, I'll need you to drop the Ghost Shield on my way out, okay?" Tucker nodded as he answered.

"Okay. Be careful, dude." He ran to do so as Sam lingered, Danny glancing a smile to her, but she didn't return the gesture as she fled as well. Danny breathed before he transformed, the Ecto-Skeleton shifting as well as he was clad in the now Phantom Skeleton as He beamed to his two friends as Sam glanced a smile back before he took off with a blue trail, soaring high and blowing the duo back some as the people cheered, Paulina cheering out his 'name'.

"Go get 'im, Inviso-Bill!"

"It's not Inviso-Bill!" Danny shouted with annoyance and to get his name across the town. "It's Phantom! DANNY PHANTOM!" He soared off as Tucker shortly dropped the shield for Phantom to go into the Zone, charging headlong into the fray, glancing once to the town before focusing on the... He gasped as the armies of Pariah were vast, amazingly so as he grimaced of how much he could do to such a dense force. "Maybe if I tried to pick these guys off one at a time..." He popped out a small ecto-marble and it landed before a small space before erupted with such power that it actually miffed the skeletons as he laughed as the battery was at full capacity. "One hundred fold, huh? THAT doesn't reek!" He generated the power and fired a ecto-blast worthy of its strength, but staggered as the battery dropped two percent, but refilled in no time as he remarked.

"Whoa. Okay. Gotta be smart about how much of my own power I use at once." He glanced down to the archers before putting up a shield and exclaimed. "STILL NOT REEKING!" He cheered before blowing more of the skeletons away, landing on the ground for the skeletons to swarm him, but they were nothing as he erupted them off, but he staggered even more as their numbers seemed endless before another blast came, giving pause to them as the Specter Speeder had arrived with Sam and Tucker at the helm as she commented.

"In general, I'm pretty opposed to violence, but I'm willing to make an exception in this case." Danny exclaimed to them as he inquired.

"Get out of here, guys! It's too dangerous for you to be here!"

"We're not staying. We're just making a delivery." The Speeder then dumped several of Danny's known ghosts and some unknowns to the fray before they sped off as Danny questioned it.

"How did they cram all of you into the Specter Speeder?"

"Hey! Ever been inside your Thermos? Compared to that, it was the Taj Mahal in there!" One of the ghosts answered before Skulker added to it.

"Less talking, more FIGHTING!" Weapons were primed form the hunter as the Box Ghost... just made use of a new tool that he took.

"Beware! For my place of employment has given me a new weapon! The Bubble Wrap- OF DEATH!" Klemper and Box Ghost actually took out a few as both said their catchphrases, which was not the best time to do.

"Now, will you be my friend?"

"NEVER!" The Dragon Ghost, that Danny could only assume as Dora, torched the lot of the bony figures while Poindexter rode as the front gate was barred by bone dragons as Skulker crushed one, but before the other could take him, a chord rang out and destroyed it as a voice called out.

"Let me just inspire some good spirits, these guys don't have a rallying cry." Topaz spoke as she started to play and somehow the rebel forces were invigorated before another appeared.

"Somebody call for the heavy firepower?" A titan, like the Ecto-Skeleton, slammed into the ground as the blue eyes were the only piece to give the guy away as a aviator mask covered his face, but it was the stockpile of weapons in both arms and the shoulder-mounted arsenal that made the whole force of bones under-powered as it tore through the ranks with repeater fire and barrages. Skulker took the chance to exclaim to Danny.

"Now, go! Defeat him! So I will be free to hunt you another day!"

"Guy really knows how to motivate ya." Danny commented with sarcasm, but he took off into the castle as he stood before the doors to the throne room. "Well, this is it." He busted down the doors to Pariah Dark waiting with a mace in hand as he mused to the angry growl from Danny.

"A little ragged round the edges, eh, child?" Danny didn't find the interest of fighting with banter as he exclaimed with sliding fully into the room.

"Whaddya say... We ditch the snappy patter and get right to the part where I kick your butt!"

"Very well, I accept your challenge!" Pariah charged and slamming his mace into the shield that Danny threw up before blasting Pariah away with a powerful clap and destroying the throne with Pariah before Danny staggered again as Pariah got back up and mused.

"Having that much power, it's a burden, isn't it, child?" He hurled the mace and Danny dodged it before it slammed into his back and returning to Pariah's hand before he delivered a kick to Danny as he exclaimed with sweating to the poor use of his own powers he had been using.

"The power isn't the burden." He shook himself up and stood up for another round. "The burden is in how I use it. And I've been using it poorly lately." He focused once more before he doubled his able number making six Dannys for the fight before jumping back into the battle at twenty five percent as Pariah was sharply overwhelming, managing to get one of the duplicates, but leaving him up to another in knocking him over as the five closed in with a shout.

"Now leave my town ALONE!" They all punched him at once as the effect was seen on Amity, the sky switching from Ghost Zone to normal as Tucker exclaimed in amaze.

"Whoa." Another copy bit the dust as four remained as Pariah remained sure of his victory.

"Surrender, child! You can't possibly win!"

"I don't have to win." The second answered as he blasted the wall, straight to the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep as he finished with the original soaring over and opening the tomb, Pariah so surprised that the Crown of Fire was knocked right off his head and into the second Danny's hands as Pariah exclaimed in denial.

"No! NO!" The Crown was tossed as two Dannys worked on pushing Pariah into his tomb, the third stealing the ring right off Pariah's finger and stashing it in the suit of the first as the cover was closed and the three returned to give all of their power to Danny as he struggled to keep it shut, but Pariah didn't go quietly as he struggled to even keep awake before he faltered, his strength giving out with the battery before a black glove extended out and locked the tomb with the Skeleton Key. Pariah was back in his tomb as he yelled, his voice echoing to his prison. "No! Nooo!" With that, the sky for Amity reverted back to normal as the skeleton collapsed to dust as Danny looked behind him to the mech supporting him and the horde of ghosts that came to aid him, Plasmius standing there with the Crown of Fire and the Skeleton key in hand as he questioned.

"I don't understand..." His vision faltered as Vlad took to explaining it lightly.

"What? That I used two 14-year-old pawns to turn a knight, and topple a king?" Vlad chuckled to the victory. "It's chess, Daniel. Of course you don't understand, but- but then you never really did." He lost focus as the world faded to black, only a few helped him away, but that was for their own interest and belief...

* * *

"Danny?" Danny stirred to Sam looming over him as she repeated. "Danny?" His eyes opened wider as he tried to focus his thoughts.

"Huh, huh... what?" He looked around form his bed to see so many familiar faces as it had his family, his friends, Damian, and Vlad as well as Vlad spoke to Danny.

"You gave us quite a scare there, little badger." Danny didn't dare narrow his brow as Jack cut in.

"Vladdie said he'd found you just outside the dome after the town flickered back to reality. He saved your life."

"Things might have been weird there for a while, but if Vlad saved your life then I say, 'bygones'." Jack added to it as he explained.

"And you will always be welcome in our home, V-man. You can stay in Danny's room!" Vlad walked over as he remarked.

"Too bad you lost your Ecto-suit, Jack."

"That's okay, V-man. Those pants made me look fat." Danny tried to get up, but Sam lightly forced him back down with a smile as he beamed back a smile as well as the following saw the clearing of the rubble and trouble of what the Ghost King had left behind.

"Well, the worst ghost crisis in the history of Amity Park is over. Cleanup continues and a sense of normalcy has returned. And while we may never know exactly what happened..." That was questionable for a number of people who suffered a bit of thefts across town, it was still good to know that they were safe from the threat now. "...One thing's for sure. Inviso-Bill or should I say, 'Danny Phantom' has gone from villain to hero in the eyes of many in our town-" A pink ray blasted the TV as Valerie grimaced.

"Oh, come on, I know I'm clumsy right now, but that was uncalled for, I was enjoying that too, they said they had a special report for the Huntress."

"Valerie? Was that the Ecto-Gun?" Valerie called back in apology to her father.

"Yes! I fumbled with it and blasted the TV, and I was hoping to hear the report!" Over at Casper High, Danny was fuming as Tucker spoke.

"Dude, you have to let it go."

"I can't!" Danny exclaimed with standing in front of his closed locker. "What was that all about? The ghosts are all off rebuilding their homes, but the Ecto-Skeleton is gone! And what about Vlad? Did he make some sort of pact with the Fright Knight? I-I-I-" He pandered off as Sam rested a hand to his mouth as she spoke.

"Danny, you beat the big bad guy, and you saved the town. That's enough for one day, dontcha think?" Danny beamed before he spotted Dash, he looking angry as Danny spoke.

"Almost." He walked up to the storming Dash as the football player exclaimed.

"You've got a lotta nerve just walkin' up to me in broad daylight, Fenton!"

"Actually, I wanted to say... I was sorry. I pulled some pranks on you, and-" Dash was surprised to hear that Danny went on. "Well, with all the weirdness in the last few days...I'm sorta thinkin' that just because I can do something doesn't mean I... should." Danny asked as he looked to Dash. "So... Apology accepted?" Dash smirked at how Danny could take the apology, they were still bully and geek in school.

"Apology accepted." Honestly, hanging Danny from the flagpole at the Nasty Burger was kind of an interesting experience, but Cedric didn't move to stop it as it was an honest choice on Danny's part as the trio watched him while the duo did the same as Valerie approached them.

"Looks like everything's back to normal."

"Looks like." Tucker and Sam replied as Valerie trailed up to a point.

"Although... Y'know how I said I didn't really like Fenton? I kinda like him now." Suddenly, the dynamic had changed once more as Sam made to stand her stand against the new rival.

"Yeah, well I- I mean, we like him too. And we're watching you." She hissed as Valerie just accepted the challenge without doubt.

"I accept your challenge!"

"Then you leave us no choice." Then Tucker and Sam did the unthinkable as they called out.

"NATHAN!" Valerie ran for it as the nerd came barreling over with exclaiming his want with flowers and chocolates.

"Valerie! Come back! Why won't you say yes?" And with that, the beginning and end of the Ghost King's reign came to an end in only a few short days...

* * *

Cedric didn't say anything as he headed back to the place where most of his tools and weapons were kept, opening a lock box and putting a single green ring inside, locking it back up as he spoke. "The Ring of Rage, if only Vlad had given up the Crown of Fire as well, I can't really trust him to keep the power contained right now."

"He may try to siphon it off..."

"Perhaps..." He answered to the resting Talia as he scaled the machine used in the big battle, opening four ports on its body and pulling out the left-bottom core, it a glowing green as he spoke. "But I have better things to take care of, I can't believe that the Iron Martyr busted a core, I guess the runoff of a filtrator is a bit too strong for the capsules." He inserted it back in and pulled out the left-top and nodded as it was slightly cracked. "Found it, a large crack fractured it."

"Would you like to wish it away?"

"No, that will not refine my skills with the machine or otherwise, I need to figure out the right composition for the capsules to be to use the full power, but still, I am shocked that I only used up a decent ten percent, though that is saying a lot for the Ecto-Skeleton, what a energy guzzler right there..."

"What do you think it's going to be used for?"

"Who knows, but I can't judge, not yet, I have some devices to fix, some weapons to adapt, and some students to terrify." He chuckled as the work ahead was rather simple to a full blown exodus...


	26. S2 - Identity Crisis

The Fenton lab was an unsettling place to be, if you know the meaning behind it as the group gathered to confirm their plans for the weekend as Danny asked, still unsure who or rather what was the mech or exosuit that came to aid him in the big fight. Cedric was being very cryptic about it as he asked with an old picture of Ember on the computer. "Ember?" Sam asked just for clarity as Topaz spoke.

"Present." They nodded as Tucker was the one asking as Topaz's file was sorted into the 'Need for Update' File.

"Skulker?"

"Ghost Zone." The file went into the 'Portal' icon as the final ghost was brought up.

"Box Ghost?"

"Who cares?" All answered as the Box Ghost popped his head out of the Portal.

"Hey! I have feelings too, you know!" Talia sighed before she punched the close button and the Portal slammed shut on the Box Ghost as Danny typed away on the keyboard before he voiced.

"All enemies captured, and all friends and allies accounted for, which means, as promised, the one hundred percent ghost-free weekend o'fun starts now." They beamed to him as their collection of goods were ready for the period as Danny pushed 'Enter', but the computer said otherwise as a red bar appeared with a hard drive, semi-human like, clutched its stomach as Danny questioned. "Hard drive full?" He moved the cursor about to work on getting rid of some of the files that were filling up the hard drive. "Well, hang on, I'll just delete some old-" He clicked the 'Personal' folder, which had the D-P icon for it, to get a picture of Paulina posing seductively at them as Sam and Topaz mused with frowns and crossed arms.

"Niiice." Danny was confused as Tucker exclaimed.

"I am _so_ downloading that!" He digital downloaded it onto his PDA before it appeared on his device as Danny spoke, sure of himself instead of nervous.

"Did I... forget to delete this one? That's weird." He didn't delete it right away as the data use for it was minor so he went to the next greater thing that he could find, a purple skull with the word 'DOOMED' on it, unaware of Tucker's sudden panic as he spoke. "Oh, hey, look, uh, here's something I can delete, this old version of _Doomed._" He moved the icon toward the trash can before Tucker could actually exclaim.

"Danny, wait! That's the video game where you trapped-" Too little, too late as the trash can icon flashed green to the deleted game with cracks forming before it erupted into Nicolai Technus as he cackled.

"I, Technus, am free at last!" The party looked surprised before frowning to the ghost slamming into the sides of the computer and into the screen itself before Topaz spoke.

"What the hey, how did you..."

"Honestly, I am just as confused as you here, Topaz." Technus recovered as he mused from being trapped in a computer.

"Well, free-ish." The set-up lifted up as Technus made his speech. "But, even from the confines of this computer, I, Technus, will rule once more! But first-" He brought up a palette program before doodling a mustache and glasses on the picture of Paulina before Danny exclaimed to the act of the floating computer.

"Hey, do you know how many digital collectibles I had to trade for that?" Technus didn't really care from the next actions as the CPU launched itself and slammed into Danny just as he slipped into Phantom form, the blow lessened before the disc drive fired wires that quickly wrapped themselves around Sam and Tucker as the others got out of the way and caused Tucker to drop his PDA, its wireless synchronization still on, while Technus laughed in victory.

Danny, on recovering got an idea and quickly grabbed the Ghost Catcher before swiping the monitor with it, pulling Technus out of it as he charged ecto-blasts and caused the webcam to blast a ray at the bound friends to Danny's panic as Technus went into a monologue. "Too bad, you can't expunge me and save your friends at the same time, eh?"

"Then I'll just have to be in two places at once!" Danny made to duplicate, but somehow, it didn't work out so well for him as what came form it was an abomination of body parts and him, the free trio grimacing to the mess before Sam exclaimed.

"Oh, for the love of Pete, here!" She quickly jumped away with Tucker on her back, as the laser passed them, but the jump also pulled out the whole setup as everything shut down, Technus was worried, but didn't linger as he took to green mist and entered himself into the only piece of technology still on, the screen reading 'Evil Download Complete', the device in question just resting on the deck somehow as Sam pulled off the cords and asked Danny who was still somehow failing his duplication. "Weekend o'fun starting yet?" Danny snapped right back to himself as he answered with certainty.

"Phew. It's starting now." Sadly, that too was out of the question as Technus schemed from inside the PDA, ALSO defacing Tucker's copy of Paulina's image with a laugh before the screen went into static, the party more confused as to what just happened with Danny, he was able to duplicated in the past, with the hunters, and doubled that number against Pariah, so what happened to result in that amalgamation...?

* * *

If Danny's first time with a scientist was going to be like Cedric, he would rather not go in at all as Cedric hummed before he answered with a grim tone, his own PDA in hand and reinforced with the notion that Technus could still be around. "It's official, your power of duplication has been shut down in the face of Dark, it will take time for it to return, but for now, you are not in any state of ability to be using duplication for any of this ghost hunting right now."

"Yeesh, tough break, Baby-Pop." Topaz hummed with a pat on the back, but Danny just groaned to the 'sympathetic' smile on her face as Talia spoke up as well.

"Don't worry, we'll cover the ghost hunting for now if Technus or any other ghost is going to be giving us trouble." Danny quietly nodded as Sam checked her watch, annoyed as the group agreed to meet at Fenton Works for the day plan, but Tucker was running late as he drove up in his electric scooter and answered to the waiting band.

"Sorry I'm late. My PDA's acting wonky." Sam raised her brows in confusion as she inquired.

"Wonky?" Danny stood up from the investigating pair on his sides as he spoke.

"Maybe you should just junk this thing and get a new one." Of course, the PDA acted up right then and zapped Danny somehow as he exclaimed, none of them aware that Technus was hiding in the system. "Ow! It was just a suggestion!" The screen went to static again as Tucker mused with disappointment.

"Looks like we're gonna miss the movie."

"Unless we find some way to ignore all speed limits, red lights and certain laws of physics." Cedric shook his head with Talia as Topaz just raised a brow to the idea before Danny, frowning for a second, suddenly smiled as if the idea he got was an answer to relief. Cedric could only voice the look.

"Here we go..."

* * *

Danny's idea was more or less murder on the road as Cedric didn't loan out his jeep to them to ride, nor did it possess the horsepower to push it, so they trio going to the movies took the reckless option, Jack Fenton's GAV ride when motivated by ghosts, Tucker finding his voice to inquire with the trio in fear of the crazy driving skill of Jack Fenton. "Could you have just flown us?"

"The way my dad drives, this is faster." Danny answered as Jack asked.

"Are you kids sure there's a ghost in that movie theatre?"

"Absolutely!" Danny bluffed as he continued. "And if not, you can pick us up in two hours and six minutes."

"Previews." Sam Corrected as Danny revised.

"Two hours and twenty-six minutes." Somehow, that worked as Jack peered to the screen in the center of the GAV's driving console.

"Good thing, I installed the Fenton On-Board Computer to plot our clearest route." That was a good thing to have, but the situation developed from there as, somehow, Tucker's PDA was still transmitting and Technus took the chance to beam himself into the GAV, deface a picture of Jack, and take over the vehicle as Technus locked them all down with seat belts as Danny asked.

"Um, dad, is this some new safety feature?"

"Safety features? Safety features are for punks!" Jack exclaimed as the RV took off into the air as it changed to a face of Technus and a logo for him as the four yelled as the RV soared before angling to slam into an electronics store as Jack exclaimed once more. "Hang on, kids! I'm deploying the Fenton Ejector!" He reached from the restraints and slammed it as the RV hit the ground and they launched out of it as the possessed RV crashed into the store, the party descending with parachutes as Tucker spoke to Danny.

"Next time, your mum's driving." Jack crashed before his chute deployed, he looking no worse for wear as Danny landed, the chute hiding his change as he took off into the store with people running out of it before he approached the crashed ride before the TOWER of screens lit up with skulls before becoming Technus's face before the appliances came to life to his laughter as he mused.

"Plasma screen, surround sound, I don't know what this thing does. Oooh, these are on sale!" Parts and pieces, monitors and screens gathered on the RV before it erupted in power as Danny glanced up to the Goliath before him as the multi-screen being spoke. "Behold! The new Technus 2.0! Now with pop up blocker!" He fired a stasis beam at Danny as he remarked, secretly wanting to just get on with his day of fun.

"It sounds like the same old Technus to me." Danny spread his arms as he spoke with being lifted up. "How about you shout your plans and let's get this thing over with?"

"Technus 2.0 does not reveal his secrets! Go on, try me." A behemoth of Technus's current should be that smug as Danny gave a honest question.

"Uh, boxers or briefs?"

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! See?" Technus answered with snatching Danny and hurling him, he crashing into a trash bin outside before Technus took off with his new form as Danny emerged with a scowl as Technus got away and was going to completely ruin the fun weekend.

* * *

Danny huffed as he removed the last of the trash on him. "I promised you guys a fun, ghost-free week and now, we have to spend it tracking down Technus. I just wish that I could do both..." For some reason, Danny didn't think to call Cedric about the runaway ghost and instead take on the task himself and, since his duplication ability was out of order, there was one other method to do it as he clued in on it. "...And maybe there is." He turned ghost and went through the floor to the unease of Tucker and Sam before he returned, the Ghost Catcher in hand as he announced. "The Fenton Ghost Catcher! Expunges all things ghostly!" Sam spoke up as she pleaded with him.

"Danny, wait. You don't have to do this. We don't mind spending the weekend fighting ghosts with you." But Danny was not swayed as he answered back.

"I do. My personal life and ghosting hunting life are always interfering with each other."

"You have a personal life?"

"Well, I will now." With that, Danny readied and dove through, two Dannys coming out of it as Phantom floated while Fenton, with a mullet, dropped to the ground before Phantom glanced at his hands before speaking.

"At last..." Wasting no time, he snatched the bed sheet and tied it on before he posed in exclaiming. "I am Danny Phantom, full-time super hero!" Fenton got up as he mused in a chill fashion.

"Yeah, whatever! And we've gonna party as Danny Fenton, full-time fun kid."

"This has bad idea written all over it." Sam grimaced before Tucker leapt in taking Fun Danny's arm.

"I call the Fun Danny!" He dragged him out as Phantom commented to Sam's appearance.

"Say, you wear an awful lot of black for a super hero sidekick, have you considered switching to bright primary colors?" That was Sam's moment to bail as she chased after Tucker.

"Tucker, wait up!" She headed out and shut the door, none of them remembering to call Cedric of the latest twist as there were now two Dannys about, one that is pure human and just lacking any responsibilities while the other is a bed-sheet wearing hero...

* * *

The friends met at the movieplex as Fun Danny chilled. "This is more like it, dudes! No responsibilities, no ghost fights, and no lame super heroics." He answered with 'pouring' his drink over as Sam scolded at him.

"And no manners!"

"Seriously, aren't you going to clean that up?" Tucker questioned as one of the employees came by and slipped on the mess as Danny didn't agree, just chilled like a rebel.

"Looks like that guy's butt already has it covered." He then belched as Sam and Tucker scolded him.

"Danny!"

"Lighten up, guys. It's a free country, besides what kind of guy with a wet butt do to us?"

"Not much, unless he's the manager." Tucker uneasily said with Sam and him smiling nervously to the now-glaring man, but Danny didn't make it better.

"Whoa, bummer!" That same manager grabbed them and tossed them out the back as he exclaimed.

"And stay out!" The door slammed, locking them out before Danny just moved to get back in.

"No problem, I'll just phase us back in." Danny spoke and, before any of them spoke otherwise, Danny grabbed their wrists and rushed for the door, only to crash into it and he exclaimed in confusion. "WOAH! I can't go ghost!" Sam spoke as she got up in the confusion, a bad feeling settling in her stomach.

"That's not right. We should go back to the lair and check this out."

"Or we could go bowling. Who's up for bowling?" Tucker was just on the side of fun as he exclaimed with raised hand.

"I am! I call the Fun Danny!" He then bolted off with Danny in tow as Sam groaned, neither of them still cluing in to tell Cedric or even call him in the first place. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Phantom flew high across the nightly sky as he mused with valor.

"Now this is more like it! No distractions, no cumbersome secret identities, and more time to dispense my unique of ghostly justice." To the sound of screams, Phantom turned to see Technus absorbing electricity over a bus of people before he exclaimed. "Leaping Lightning Rods! This looks like a job for Danny Phantom!"

Of course, his charge was met by a ghost shield, supplies by the GAV compartment of the behemoth before Phantom scowled in disbelief. "You frivolous fiend! Your ghost shield prevents me from painfully pummeling you into a pulp!" Somehow, just somehow, Phantom didn't clue in on the adverse changes of the choice of dividing himself in two currently, much like a moronic nitwit doing bowling. "Too bad for you, Danny Phantom is only half-ghost!" The rings formed and went, but nothing changed as he glanced to a still-white glove as he voiced. "Hey, I can't turn human!" He was blasted as Technus scoffed.

"Neither can I, but you don't hear me shouting it to the heavens! I don't do that anymore!" Honestly, it was just a total mess as Phantom tried to stop Technus, but he couldn't get get near the machine behemoth while Fenton just enjoyed his game-filled life free from the responsibility of... anything really, night turning to day and somehow, Phantom's face was seen on TV as Jack jumped to his feet in exclaiming.

"Great gobs of ghost goop! Danny will want to see this." He moved to tell Danny, but Jazz cut him off as she exclaimed.

"He's not here!" That was a suspicious answer form Jazz as she explained. "I mean, Danny's probably still asleep." She WAS right as Danny slipped in with a cool guy look as she spoke with a rock-out hand gesture.

"S'up?" Both Jack and Jazz exclaimed to the Danny before Jack took his son and showed him the set.

"Get a load of this." But Danny just brushed it off as he answered.

"Ghost? Who cares?" He slipped out of the giant's hands as he finished with his plan. "Gonna meet Sam and Tucker at the pier, he headed out with a smile as Jazz exclaimed in utter confusion.

"But you... but he... but I..." She groaned aloud as she continued in exasperation. "That can't be Danny!"

"I'll say! No son of mine says who cares about ghosts!" Jack headed out to get Danny to be interested again to Jazz's utter shock before she stopped and pulled out her phone before dialing up a number, begging that he has answers, two rings and the call was answered before a catchy theme could play.

"What is it, if it is for cookies, biscuits, or donuts, I am..."

"Cedric, listen, I need some help here." The friend paused to Jazz's words as she spoke. "I don't know if I am losing my mind, or something crazy, but there are TWO Dannys running around."

"Excuse me, two?" Cedric questioned as he continued. "That's not possible, Danny's duplication power is on the fuzz, there is no way that he can duplicate at all right now."

"Yeah, but there is Phantom on the set and Fenton walking out the door with no regard for Phantom, like way too chilled." The other line was silent before she had a 'Oh, he is going to die' before Cedric spoke up again.

"Jazz, just focus on Danny, the Fenton one right now, I have a feeling of what the idiot just did." The line cut and Jazz moaned, she just wanted one day where things would actually go right for a bit...

Down by the pier, where rides and fun was to be had, Fenton mused in glee. "Man, this is the life! I wish I could just stay on this ride forever!" The roller coaster going up halted with the other rides as Sam answered in reply to Danny's desire.

"You may just get your wish." Across from them, down on the edge was Technus draining more power while Phantom tried in vain to pull the behemoth away, only to get grabbed and hurled across the pier as Tucker exclaimed in disbelief.

"Why couldn't you wish for supermodels instead?"

"Did someone say super?!" Phantom returned with a smile as Sam just groaned.

"Oh, somebody kill me." Phantom soared over again as Technus exclaimed.

"Tremble before the power of Technus 2.0!"

"Wait a minute!" Phantom exclaimed as he recounted the things that Technus has been interacting with lately in his behemoth form. "Electric street car, power-lines, generators... You've been recharging yourself all night! Technus 2.0 is just a wattage-wasting wastrel!" Technus blasted him away before he resumed with posing. "Relax, citizens! Danny Phantom is on the job!" He flashed a winning smile before Sam inquired to the relaxing Danny.

"Danny, shouldn't you do something?"

"What? He said relax." That didn't help anyone when the Spectre Speeder arrived with Jack Fenton at the helm.

"Hop aboard, son, your old man's gonna show you how to catch a ghost!" With that, he snatched Danny out of the seat and then launched the party down the coaster, getting to lower ground, but it really was dangerous nonetheless as the SPeeder pulled right in front of Phantom as Danny spoke up to the weapons moving to lock on.

"Dude, uh, Dad, I don't know about this." But Jack was not convinced as he mused with the lock-on.

"Okay, now you gonna wanna nail them right between the eyes." It finalized as Jack exclaimed. "Now, waste them!" This was becoming a mess and they really should have thought this one through more clearly...

* * *

Jack took Danny's hand and mused. "Take the shot, son, make your old man proud." Fenton held the controls to fire before he shoved hard, tilting the Speeder, but also tossing Fenton out the open door hatch to Phantom bolting down in saving him as Phantom scolded the reckless fool.

"Dueling Doppelgangers! Have you lost your half of our mind!" The two landed as Fenton exclaimed back.

"Dude, I'm not the one wearing a bed sheet." Suddenly, a blast separated the two as Jack came in with the Speeder as he exclaimed.

"I'll save you, Danny!" He paused as he thought about it, he still not sure why Danny was... right now two people, but he could file under 'look into later'. "Wait, they're both named Danny. Now, that's going to be confusing." He exclaimed all the same. "I'll save ya, son!" Now, if only he focused on the rolled behemoth behind him as Technus blasted the Speeder and the pair rushed over to the downed ride and the still-conscious man before Technus mused to Fenton AND Phantom at the same place.

"Back-up copies of yourself. Why didn't I think of that?" With that, Technus headed off with both halves taking after him while the roller coaster came to a stop and Sam glared at Tucker for wanting to go again as Phantom monologued.

"That rampaging robotic rogue is heading straight for the power plant! We have to stop him before he consumes this city's energy supply!"

"What do you mean we? That's your job. Uh, besides, I can't go ghost."

"No, but you can get past the ghost shield, human!" Phantom picked up speed as Technus tried to keep going to Phantom's delay tactics while Fenton, having gotten in from the rear window, started to use up the power that Technus had as he exclaimed with losing all that energy.

"I'm powering down! But how?!"

"Bingo!" Phantom answered with blasting one of the tires and sending the hunk of tech crashing into the edge of the pier with rescuing Fenton as well, Technus uttering a last 'no' before the mech powered down and the two pushed the machine into the waters below before Fenton spoke up.

"Uh, okay. When dad asks me who trashed the van, I am so not covering for you!" Fenton made to walk away, but Phantom floated in front of him as he spoke in scolding the reckless behavior.

"And that is the sort of irresponsible attitude that make you such a disappointment in our family." There was no middle ground between the two as Fenton answered back to the figure.

"Uh, hello! Not _our_ family, _my_ family. You're the full-time hero, remember?"

"Then, perhaps, it's time we fuse back together!" Phantom took to phasing into Fenton and turning his eye color green as Jack, Sam, and Tucker arrived and Jack exclaimed.

"Danny! Are you alright, son?" Fortune had other plans as Phantom exclaimed in Fenton's body.

"I've never felt better in my life." That got some strange looks as it seemed that the danger was over for the most part...

* * *

"Curse this infernal messy room!" Phantom exclaimed as he continued. "This looks like a job for the vacuum cleaner!" He blazed through the room with power and reflex before Sam spoke up to the slight difference, Cedric there also with Talia as Topaz wanted to sleep in for a bit.

"Danny, something's up, you are definitely not yourself since you fused back together!"

"Of course, I'm myself." Phantom exclaimed with turning off the vacuum before going into a monologue. "I'm more than myself! I'm..." He started to convulse as he reached inside himself with exclaiming.

"Get out of me!" From Fenton's body came Phantom with a toss as he exclaimed in landing on his feet.

"No! We must become one again!"

"We didn't become one, dude! You overshadowed me!" Fenton exclaimed with checking himself over in the mirror before Cedric spoke up, getting the readings from both now to Talia's own awe that such a thing happened.

"And yet, it didn't stick, the first time was a swift connection back together, love you by the way, Talia Rahmat." Cedric spoke in kissing Talia's temple and causing a puff of blush and her face covering to the affection as Cedric continued. "This time, both of you are filling in the gaps slowly, the Ghost Catcher must have had a delayed reaction of separating your personalities, you didn't divide yourself in the first place, you separate yourself in half, one being human and the other being ghost." Tucker spoke up as Sam and him stalked over to grab the Fenton device.

"But, in theory, another trip through the Ghost Catcher should straighten out this mess..." The pair picked up the Catcher and swept it over both of the Dannys and stood back to the worst turnabout. "...Or it could make it ten times worse." It got the right form form both of them, but that was the problem, there were now Two Danny Fentons in the room as Jazz entered.

"Danny, Dad wants you to..." She stopped and would have screamed to the fact of two Dannys as she never saw Danny do it before, but she turned and asked Cedric. "It didn't turn out so well, did it?"

"We are working on it, Jasmine."

"Danny! What's going on in there?" Both panicked as Tucker exclaimed the same.

"Quick! Hide!" He pushed the pair of them into the closet as Sam exclaimed.

"No, just one of you!"

"I call the Fun Danny!"

"I call the... Darn it!" Sam exclaimed to Tucker taking the blue-eyed Danny to Jazz's, Cedric's, and Talia's own raised brows before Jack spoke up again.

"Hey..." Sam was quick in slamming the closet shut with Tucker inside, leaving him and Fun Danny in front of the door as Jack walked in to the Ghost Catcher standing in the room. "What's the Ghost Catcher doing in your room?" Jack brokered no argument as he stepped to the side as Danny picked it up to his command. "You march that back down to the lab right now, son!" Fenton did so just as Jack headed to his room with Maddie coming out and Phantom coming out of the closet to her relief as she spoke, Jazz still in the room.

"I don't know what's come over Jazz. Danny, Please be a dear and show her you're alright?"

"I'm more than alright! I'm Danny Fenton!" That earned him a strange look before she spoke to the teen on the bed.

"There are two Dannys running around, aren't there?"

"The Ghost Catcher divided them in half, we are still working it out." She nodded as she left, taking the moment to get the Fenton half back up.

"Oh, I see you're taking the Catcher back downstairs, but don't think that you don't need the help, can you friends help him out?" They nodded as they made their way downstairs, the door bell ringing as both parents headed to the door, and to an officer who spoke.

"Is this your vehicle, ma'am?" Somehow, they managed to get the powered-down form of Technus's GAV monster back from the waters and Maddie frowned at Jack as he nervously asked.

"Hey, it's... back from the shop." Meanwhile, the party met down in the lab as Fenton spoke to the Phantom.

"Okay. From now on, you hide and we will be Danny."

"I think not! You were Danny all day and did a very poor job of it!"

"Is it so wrong of me to think this whole thing was stupid?"

"Nope, Talia, I don't think it was stupid, it was moronic for Danny to do this." Cedric answered with folding his arms before Maddie and Jack came down the stairs.

"Good news, kids, we've recovered the RV's Black Box Data Recorder." Sam and Tucker jumped in front of Fun Danny to hide him as Jack finished the trail of thought.

"This baby will show us exactly how that ghost took control, just as soon as I download all its memory into the Fenton mainframe." Both jumped out in exclaiming to the man about to plug in a lingering ghost into the system.

"DUDE/DAD! NO!" But too little, too late as Jack plugged the black box in and Technus surged out across the house, surging through all of its technology before the robotic form floated to the top and was attached to the house with cords as Technus surged back into it as he exclaimed.

"AT LAST! My upgrade is complete! With the technology in this house, I can drain all the power from this city and then the world!" He paused before asking himself. "Nobody heard that, right?" It was certain that it was heard, but for now, the party in the lab were attacked by the devices around them, Cedric and Talia dodging under as the family and friends were wrapped in cords before both Dannys shouted.

"Going ghost!" Both changed before yelping in surprise. "Whoa, I can still do that?"

"Less talking, more action, you two!" Cedric exclaimed as the armor donned and Talia fought with him in repelling the active lab as Phantom exclaimed.

"I'll save everyone! You deal with the house-high-jacking horror!" Fenton took flight, only to hit the ceiling, it appeared that, while both were about to switch and all of that, their powers were divided as well, as Fenton mumbled with his flying.

"Would it be too much to ask for ALL of my powers back?" So he took to the stairway out as Phantom joined the battle in the lab, ready to fire an ecto-ray.

"Eat ghost ray, you evil electronic extensions." But it fizzed out as Phantom exclaimed. "Fizzling Phantoms! Are my powers diminished as well?" He leapt over the robot that came at him, it getting wasted by a intense flare form Talia, as he rested his hands on the trapped members and got them out with intangibility as he answered. "At least that one still works!" Outside, Technus made to absorb more power before one of the cables was blasted out of the machine's hands as Fenton ranted.

"That's for totally ruining my weekend-o'-fun, dude!"

"Oh, I'll ruin more than that, whelp." He mustered the tech to attack Fenton and launch him off as the party rushed out to him crashing before Maddie exclaimed.

"Wait! Where's Danny?" Fenton crash and drew their attention before Phantom reverted ot human in panic and shouted.

"I'm right here, Mother!"

"Wait a minute, weren't you just...?" Jack's question didn't last as Jazz, somehow making it into her room after the gang headed into the lab, went to her room and now was trapped in there as she exclaimed.

"Mom! Dad! Danny! Other Danny!"

"Jazz!" Jack and Maddie rushed back in as Technus finished draining more power from the block.

"That was tasty! Now let's see what I can do with all power." He blasted the ground and causing large mechanical tendrils to erupt from the street before attaching them to the Fenton household and lifting the upper section of it into the air and walking away with four legs stomping across the ground as Phantom exclaimed with changing back to his ghost form.

"We have to stop Technus before he takes over the whole city!" Fenton was casual about just laying back and watching it happen.

"Good luck, dude!"

"I only have half our powers! We must do it... together. It's... our duty!" Fenton joked about it as Phantom pushed for it as he grabbed Fenton. "We have to stop him!"

"Tried it. Didn't work. Back to bowling." Tucker and Sam stepped in as Cedric and Talia just rubbed their temples to this personality stupidity.

"It'll be fun?"

"I'll get to hit stuff?" Somehow, that swayed Fenton over as he spoke up again.

"Sweet!"

"You go inside and get the Ghost Catcher!" Phantom exclaimed to the two as he prepped for flight. "I'll keep Technus busy!" He tried, but failed to fly as Fenton answered.

"How about we all go inside?" Technus rampaged through the town, draining more and more power from the city as the six flew to the possessed housing and phased through with Phantom as Technus exclaimed.

"No one can stop me now!" Phantom phased through as he exclaimed.

"No one maybe..."

"...But how about two?" Fenton jumped out of the hatch as Technus tried to blast them, but Fenton had it covered as the dishes were destroyed before Technus spoke.

"Two or two thousand, you still can't get past my ghost shield!" He blasted the shield and it activated before Fenton pointed it out.

"Um, dude, it only works if we're outside the ghost shield." And it only stopped them if they openly tried to change and make them a focus for the anti-ghost barrier as Technus exclaimed once more.

"No matter! My upgrade is extremely adaptable!" Technus surged with a few more tendrils to take out the pair, Fenton dodging in flight and tried to get closer to blast, but was captured, Phantom tried AGAIN to fly, in vain, as Technus blasted him with a ray as one of the screens on Technus shifted over to the captured Phantom and monologue. "If you wish to split your focus, you must learn to multi-task."

Multi-task this!" Tucker shouted as Sam and Tucker charged with the Ghost Catcher in hand as Technus exclaimed in surprise.

"What!? Nooo!" But the screen was too slow in retreating form the Catcher as it swiped and pulled Technus out, shutting down the whole set up and retracting everything back, the Dannys freed before the four looked upon the reforming Technus, now more like an evil mastermind of a ghost than a mad scientist as he turned, hair down into a mullet, black lab suit, and sliver cloak draping over his shoulders and back as he spoke once more. "Then it's time that my ghostly form had an upgrade as well! You cannot stop me!"

Technus made to fly away as both Dannys shouted. "Oh yes, we can!" They jumped in grabbing the ghostly tail in finishing. "Together!" They pulled him back and slammed hard into the Ghost Catcher, releasing Technus for a moment as both merged back together as Danny, now normal, exclaimed. "We did it! No, I did it!" He got back up as he exclaimed with facing with Technus once more. "Alright, Technus, it's just you and me now! Me, the one and only Danny Phantom!"

"Technus 2.0 will escape to fight another..." Technus mused with trying again, only for Danny to grip the ghost tail as he mused back.

"Shouting out your plans again? That is so 1.0." Tucker tossed the Thermos he had and Danny caught it, uncapping it before plunging it to pull in Technus as he exclaimed in vengeance.

"I'll be back, child! Count on it!" Danny capped it as Sam mused in glee.

"Way to pull yourself together, Danny!"

"But how'd that last pass through the Ghost Catcher do that anyway?" Tucker mused before Talia huffed and pointed to the words on the bottom of the ring.

"Side Two: Merge, Side One: Separate."

"Duh..." Tucker gloomily answered as Danny apologized.

"Too bad I can't pull together that fun weekend I promised you guys." Danny answered with reverting back to human with Talia as Tucker beamed with Sam, Cedric rolled his eyes.

"You kidding? This was a fun weekend."

"Really?" The trio headed over to the railing as Sam beamed as well, Cedric and Talia joining them with Talia lounging on Cedric.

"We're your friends, Danny, kicking back or kicking butt." The rest of the Fenton clan came out as Jazz counted only one Danny and beamed.

"One Danny, they did it, they really did it!" She cheered as she just added to it. "I'm not nuts!" She rushed over as Maddie mused.

"Oh, isn't that sweet? That's exactly what you said when you proposed to me."

"And you still said yes. Who's nuts now, huh?" The parents walked over as Jack continued in joy. "Good to see you're in one piece, son." The five mused just the same.

"Tell me about it."

"Now to work on putting the house back."

"Um, Dad, maybe that can wait until after the summer?" The house somehow ended on on the beach line as the party looked over all of it; the sand, the ocean, and the morning sun raising up to greet them all...

* * *

With that, they spend the day on the beach, people gave the house a brief glance, even Valerie when she arrived to see the beach for a bit, but nothing could really ruin the day...

...Well, besides Cedric giving Danny a hard time for trying to single-handily handle a ghost and split himself in half, but Danny was glad to be back in full. Still, there was something about battling both Valerie and Cedric in Volleyball that was just so nice, with Sam by his side...


	27. S2 - The Fenton Menace

Out in the middle of nowhere, the Fenton RV roared past the winding road with Jazz holding on for dear life in the back as she recounted, the present her writing it down in her journal as she remembered the time when she made a choice in trying to help Danny. "You know how sometimes you feel like you're the only responsible person in your family?"

The past Jazz cracked open the back to the sound of ecto-blasts as she continued. "Well, there are days my family makes me feel like I'm the only responsible adult in the world." She gasped as more blasts came, the RV dodging just fine, but Jazz still shut to Maddie and Jack in the front, looking more like country types than ghost hunters.

"Guys, pay attention to the road!" The stereo blurred at full volume as both rocked out before both yelled to Jazz over the music.

"What?" A blast hit the side of the road to the Fentons as they resumed focus forward as Jazz headed over as the journal continued.

"After all, ever since I learned Danny's secret..." She trailed off as her past self had witness Phantom fighting empty air, but somehow was losing to something in the first place, he roaring with blasting, nearly hitting the RV a few times, he sorry about that, but was snatched again, he trying to hit something and barraging the rocks above, either he was going nuts or something else was afoot as Jazz continued the page. "...I promised myself I'd never let anyone know; Mom, Dad, even Danny..."

She trailed off again as, after this exact trip, she came to know that her family DOES know, just in minor detail and Danny never fully explained it out for her, so she was still under the impression that they don't know fully yet as she started again. "...Unless his life depended on it; Well, guess what, I looks like that time has come!" Danny was then hurled at the RV as the Fentons shouted 'Look out' to the incoming Danny...

...That was the day that she learned that not everything is what it seems to be, as she paused and tapped her chin before doing the entry once more...

* * *

Jazz added more to the journal as she explained. "You know how regular kids get freaked out because of a quiz or a pimple? Well, my brother Danny have other pressures..." The image froze as Jazz explained it out more. "...But I'm getting ahead of myself. I guess it all started on a typical Fenton family outing..." It was a few days earlier, by everyone's account, that the Fenton clan had sent out onto the waters of Amity Park as Maddie beamed, the four of them inside a more aquatic-model of the RV, the Fenton Submersible or just the Sub.

"Nothing like spending quality family time with the people you love." Jack pushed a button that caused the vessel to dive under the water as Jazz spoke up with arms crossed to the 'bonding'.

"And, by quality time, you mean hunting down ghosts in a sub-aquatic death trap?"

"You betcha, Jazzi-pants!" Jack exclaimed as he piloted the machine about. "Whether it's air, land, or sea, I won't stop until we capture a ghost and tear it apart, molecule by molecule." Danny peered out of the sub and gasped as Jazz asked.

"Danny, you okay?"

"Who, me?" Danny asked before he looked back through the window. "I'm swell, every single molecule of me." Down on the ocean floor was the sloop that the band of teens took down, it was Youngblood's ship and he grimaced as he worded it out. "I just don't think that we should... go in there." But his words were taken otherwise as Jack beamed.

"Go in there? Good idea, Danny!"

"What!? No!" But too little, too late, as the sub dove down and went into the bubbled ship, the Fentons awed by the ship, but Danny was more panicked before he gasped, Jazz didn't see what he was freaking out about when she realized that, at that time, it WAS a problem, but not the problem she thought it was as Danny exclaimed through the porthole window. "Don't you see it!? How can you NOT see it!? Ghost!"

"A ghost? That I can tear apart by molecule by molecule? Where?" Jack beamed as he jumped out of the seat and to Danny's window with Maddie, but nothing was out there, just nothing as Danny was focused on one spot as Jack whined. "Hey!"

"There's no ghost out there!" Maddie answered in toll, but the look on Danny's face was panic as he gestured outside the window, Jazz should have been more understanding with him, but Jack filled it in on the 'invisible' ghost.

"Very funny, son. Save it for April Fool's day, huh?" But Danny was not done as he rushed for the controls to Jack's yelp.

"Look out!" Jazz's call out of question of what Danny was even doing didn't stop the youngest Fenton from activating the sub's weapon systems and blasting the whole thing before he drove the whole thing, launching his family into the back of the sub as Maddie roused herself to exclaim.

"Danny! There's no ghost out there!"

"Are you people blind?!" The sloop crumbled and deactivated the shield around it as Danny just piloted in a frantic rush. "We have to get out of here!" The sub launched into the air before turning into a speedboat, the lower speed allowing the Fentons to get up, but all Danny cared about was escaping, something ELSE launching from the water depth, but only he could have spot it form the get-go, the pause allowing Maddie to snatch Danny away form the helm.

"Danny, get away from the controls!" He was confronted with his family as Jazz started off, the log entry from the present Jazz adding that she just jumped the same gun, Danny saw something, but he was more panicked to explain it out.

"What's with you? Chasing ghosts that aren't there is Dad's job!"

"Yeah, what she said!" He paused before Danny yelped for an answer.

"But... he was there!" Danny answered with headed over to the window, the sub slowing down some as he planted his hands on the window. "I saw him!" He turned to ask them. "Why couldn't you?" He faced back in search of their pursuer, but Jazz's entry continued to explain as she too believed that it was just something else going on that only Danny could actually see."

"Clearly, something was up with Danny." Jazz added as she rolled her eyes as later that night, their parents took the chance to force whatever strange thing out of Danny. "And, as usual, my parents had their own nutty way of trying to get to the bottom of things." Said method was strapping him down on the table and spinning said table like those astronaut training camps, to contend with high-speeds that rockets were accustom to, Jazz patted herself on the back for that one, though Danny was less as Maddie called out.

"Just a little longer, sweetie."

"Don't you worry, son! We'll spin the crazy out of you in no time!" The treatment stopped to Danny looking more frazzled than before as he exclaimed.

"I'm not crazy!" He trembled as Jazz added to it.

"So, as usual, it was up to me." The following day, at Casper, Jazz found Danny and observed as Sam approached with question to the frazzled look of the Demi.

"Danny? You okay? You look a little...?"

"Crazy!? Don't say crazy!" He trembled as Sam added to it.

"I was going to say you look a little like you've been on a big, spinning table. Why? Do you think you're crazy?" Danny composed himself a bit as he answered.

"I think I'm starting to see ghosts when there aren't any ghosts." The journal entry added Jazz's initial conclusion as well.

"So he was hallucinating, which means I had to prevent him from using his ghosts powers while in this delicate state of mind." The rest of the party joined up as Tucker added to the chatter.

"Hey, Danny! How many times had this happen to you? You need to sneak away and go ghost, but you're stuck with your family?" Both Sam and Danny looked at each other with half-closed eyes at what hair-brain scheme Tucker was making now.

"Uh, more than a little, a lot lately."

"Then, do I have good news for you! Now you can throw away all those tired old excuses with this!" He answered with pulling out a MP3 player as he continued. "The Tucker Foley Alibi O' Matic!" Both of them stared blankly while Cedric and Talia rubbed their temples with Topaz just huffing and adjusting her guitar case, her real guitar inside and it was certainly one that couldn't be broken as easy as the fakes. "Just set it behind closed doors and prest-o, you're home asleep!"

The device made a snoring sound, not comparable at all to Danny's own sleeping, Jazz narrowing her brows to it, both present and in the past on how dumb a device it was as Tucker continued his marketing idea. "But wait! There's more!"

"Does there have to be?" Sam answered as Tucker continued his sales pitch.

"There's head cold.. and my specialty..." There was the common sneezing and sniffing before a fart as Danny took it off Tucker's hands in looking at it as Tucker continued his pitch. "Now, what would you pay?"

"To make it stop?" Sam answered as the trio nodded before the bell rang as Sam exclaimed.

"I never thought I'd say this, but thank heavens! Class!" The duo headed off with Topaz and Talia as well as Cedric rested a hand on Danny's shoulder.

"Are you sure you are doing okay?"

"I... I..." Danny stopped with a turn, ripping out of Cedric's hold as he exclaimed. "YOU!" Jazz looked with Cedric to find nothing, Cedric looking to his friend who was right now angry at something. "I might not have been able to do anything last time! But this time, I'm going..." He came to a skidding halt with Jazz at her position, Cedric scratching his jaw in confusion before engaging his visor and looking around for something as Danny stammered his answer. "G-Going..."

"Nowhere, but back to class."

"You... don't see anything?"

"Just a little brother who's looking a little nutter by the second." Danny made to get going, but Jazz was not done as she grabbed his wrist in question. "And where do you think you're going?"

"Wherever I want!" Danny sassed back as Cedric found his filter and quietly gasped before the visor disappeared, reappeared, and again as Danny continued, Cedric raising his hands and walking away for class, that was not his problem to deal with right then. "What are you, the hall monitor now?"

"I'm YOUR hall monitor, Danny, and there's no place you can go where I can't follow!"

"Really?" He smirked as he pushed open a door and went in, Jazz making to follow before it closed and it had the icon for the boy's bathroom as she groaned.

"Except there." He wasted no time transforming, but neither did whatever he saw as the sound of a fight came form inside the bathroom, Jazz cluing in then that there WAS a ghost that only Danny saw, but somehow no one else could as Lancer approached before gesturing to the bathroom with a small answer.

"If that's your brother making all those noises in there, I would suggest he get a little more fibre in his diet." He walked away and Danny came flying out, punching and swinging at nothing before blasting, he was clearly trying so hard to hit whatever it was and roared as he phase through the roof in pursuit, the state of the hall in disarray as Jazz added more to her journal as her past self made a plan to ease Danny out of it and get him to relax hopefully.

"It was worse than I thought, I had to get Danny away form the pressures of ghosts and ghost hunting. Somewhere like..." Her suggestion went over well with her family as all exclaimed, at the lab.

"A camping trip?"

"Studies show that connecting with nature has a calming effect on troubled teens." She explained as Danny countered in annoyance.

"Are there any studies on the calming effect of big sisters minding their own business?" He shifted like something just hit him as he exclaimed to the air. "Quit it!" They looked at him strangely as Jazz continued in pointing it out.

"See, this toxic home environment is making him a nervous wreck!" He twitched as she continued her plan. "He needs a normal family outing. One that has nothing to do with ghosts!"

"Will you stop talking about me like I'm not here!?" He just then bounced forward like something just poked him in the back as he whipped about to the thing in question... still nothing to their eyes. "And will you stop poking me!"

"I don't know, Jazz, honey." Maddie answered as she spared a glance to Danny. "Sure, Danny seems a little high-strung, but... I'm sure it's nothing we can't work out here." Danny was struck again and he didn't take to it with yelling, he took to it like blasting as he snatched an ecto-gun form the table and yelled.

"BACK OFF, PUNK!" He then blasted all around as the family took cover, peering over to Danny annoyed and the ceiling steaming with blast marks as Maddie answered again.

"I'll pack the sleeping bags."

"And I'll pack the ghost hunting equipment!" Jack voiced as Maddie and Jazz frowned at him before he corrected himself. "Sorry, default answer for me, so by ghost hunting equipment, I mean the other sleeping bags!" That was all they asked for as tomorrow, they were heading out for the camping trip...

* * *

The Fentons readied with the GAV in front of them, in more camping attire, well, the parents, Jazz looked rather the same as Maddie hopped in, Jack stopped with getting a device pulled out of the overalls and turned into a large magnet in Jazz's hands as she glared at him as he answered uneasily. "It's a waffle iron?" She was not convinced as he slumped into the RV and Jazz took the moment to look at the device her neck and pressing it, turning off the weapon systems on the GAV to Maddie's smile and Jack's pout as Danny watched with a shake before Topaz spoke up.

"Baby-pop, are you going to be alright?"

"I don't know. What if Jazz is right? What if I am going nuts?"

"You're not going nuts. We believe you, even if every single other person you know doesn't." Danny smiled as Jazz approached before she spoke up with a hand on Danny's shoulder.

"Okay, little brother, time to go." He headed over to the GAV while Jazz slightly pushed the five away as she spoke. "And you five, leave him alone this weekend, okay? He needs to relax." Sam turned with the party as she voiced.

"Jazz, I know you've got Danny's best interest at heart, but don't even think you can tell us what to do!" Cedric shook his head before engaging the visor again, blinking as Danny gasped and then rushed for the corner with the others looking to him as he called out.

"Yeah, you better run! I see you again, I am going to tear you..." He stopped to the pondering four and the humming fifth as he asked. "You didn't see anything, did you?" They shook their heads with Cedric lightly bobbing a 'yes' as Danny attempted to explain to them. "But... they were right there, around the corner!" He sighed before walking over to the GAV. "I'll get into the Assault Vehicle."

"Not this weekend, honey." Maddie answered with door open. "This weekend, it's a regular RV." Jack groaned with disappointment as the GAV started up to Danny climbing in before the five waved goodbye to Jazz going as well.

"We'll see you Monday." Danny peered about in the back with Jazz looking at him while Talia spoke to Cedric about it.

"What on Earth did he see, I saw nothing and I am usually very perceptive."

"Yeah, Baby-pop is really looking out of place here, what the Realms did he even see that we couldn't?"

"I don't know, you tell us, Topaz." She blinked in confusion as Cedric continued in asking, the others just as confused. "Did your last partner-in-crime say anything about possessing a specific type of invisibility?" She raised a finger before she hummed and answered.

"No, he didn't... why?"

"Because I am sure now..." Cedric turned back to the fading RV. "...His weekend is going to be murder on his sense and sanity if this doesn't get cleared up soon..."

* * *

Going for a solid two hours, the Fentons drew closer to their campsite as Jack drove on, briefly scratching his arms as he complained. "I feel positively naked without my jumpsuit! And I'm pretty sure I'm getting a rash on my unprotected forearms."

"Good thing I packed plenty of Fenton ointment!" Jack beamed as he took the 'Fointment' in hand as Maddie continued to Jazz. "And I packed your old Bearbert Einstein for you, Jazz." She had pulled out an old stuffed bear that mimicked the appearance of Albert Einstein as Jazz exclaimed, snatching the toy away from her mom.

"Mum! Stop treating me like a baby!" She huffed before pulling it back out and rubbing its head sweetly before Danny spoke with a huff.

"Welcome to my world!" He shoved it out of her hands as she gasped with a 'Hey' before sighing as she spoke.

"Danny, I don't know why you're mad at me. I'm not the one who trashed the lab blasting 'imaginary' ghosts!"

"It was one ghost... and a parrot." Danny huffed and Jazz, back then, didn't see it as an actual ghost, but part of Danny's own mind playing tricks on him.

"Was it a ghost and a parrot or a projection of your own fears... and a parrot." Jazz asked before Maddie cut in.

"Now, kids, let's not fight." Maddie then beamed as she spoke. "Who's up for a game of I Spy? I spy with my little eye, something beginning with C!"

"Cola, chaffing, cattle prod..." Jack answered as cola was what he was drinking, he was chaffing a lot, so where did cattle prod come into play?

Danny, on the other hand, saw something else, present Jazz even adding it as he had seen a distant shadow of some small cowboy on a horse-like thing as he exclaimed. "Cowboy?" As usual to this situation, Jazz couldn't see the same thing, just a spanning desert landscape as she questioned.

"Where do you see a cowboy?"

"Duh! He's riding right next to us... at seventy miles an hour? Oh no, not again..." With that, something crashed into the RV and Jazz exclaimed, the parents heedless to the sudden event.

"Danny, whatever you're doing, cut it out!"

"I'm not doing anything!" The RV turned toward what Maddie spotted as the back treks loosened up to Maddie inquiring.

"Oh, come on! Isn't anyone gonna guess what I spied, beginning with C?"

"CLIFF!" Danny yelled as Maddie just beamed.

"Very good, Danny!" Another shake and somehow, the trek was ripped off, the back bouncing and rolling the near edge of the cliff that they were driving on while the culprit, standing down the way, was revealed as a familiar young spirit atop a skeletal horse as the horse questioned.

"They still think he's crazy?"

"Yep, and they will, all the way to the bottom of that ravine."

* * *

Once more, the threat was real as Maddie realized it as well before she yelped, Jack reacting in time with the Fenton Re-Threader, replacing the lost trek with a new one and they were back to normal as she praised her husband. "Good thinking, hon."

"I invented that technology to help me when my belts break, it's nice to know it has other uses as well." But they were not out of danger at all as Youngblood rode behind the GAV on his bone horse as it questioned the plan of following so close.

"You think it's smart to get this close?" Youngblood dismissed it as he answered back, only Danny knowing who was now following them.

"They're gonna be road pizza soon. I wanna closer look." Jack, on the other hand, finally gave in to attacking himself to get rid of the sudden rash he was getting as he bellowed.

"It sure is hard to drink, drive and scratch at the same time. Curse these infernal camping clothes! Maddie, take the wheel!" He shoved the wheel to her before unleashed his wrath on the clothes as Danny glanced to the weapon systems on Jazz and inquired.

"Uh, Jazz, you wouldn't considering unlocking those ghost weapons, would you?"

"Not a chance. Why?" Jazz answered with resting a hand on the device as DAnny brushed it off.

"Um, no reason." He reached down and undid the buckle to his seat. "Excuse me." He then rushed into the RV's bathroom and went ghost, slipping into the flooring before putting the Alibi O' Matic on for going to the bathroom before he mused to the disgusting sounds being made. "Man! What's Tucker been eating?" He didn't have an answer for that as he phased out, Youngblood firing a section cork onto the front wheel of the RV and making to pull it out before Danny got out and cut the line with an ectoblast as he shouted.

"Figment of my imagination or not, you need to back off, cowbrat!" Danny shouted as he blasted Youngblood off the horse, it soaring to rescue him before they charged up the cliff face with Danny heading to the front as Maddie and Jack mused his appearance.

"Huh. What's that ghost boy doing way out here?" Danny fired at Youngblood in annoyance as Jack added to it, they still not seeing what he sees.

"I don't know, Maddie, but he must really hate that rock formation."

"Well, shouldn't we be hunting him down or something?" Maddie asked as Phantom dug a long trench in the rock before Jazz yelped.

"No! I mean... you promised no ghost fighting..." Jazz slumped back as she whispered angrily at herself. "...and so did Danny..." Danny gave chase, only for Youngblood to lasso his ankle and drag him along for the ride, the part where Jazz left off as she continued her writing of what happened. Danny went over the RV to Youngblood's ride as the three in the vehicle huffed in relief, Jack trying to using the bathroom with Jazz stopping him to the Alibi switching from bathroom to... sleeping? which was confusing while Danny decided it was enough as he soared and, pulling Youngblood's own lasso, tied up the horse and all three dropped onto a piece of rock as Youngblood whined.

"No fair! You dog-tied my horse!"

"That's hog-tied." The horse corrected as Danny yelled.

"WHO CARES!" Danny yelled as he closed the gap and shook the now-cowboy ghost. "WHY CAN'T THEY SEE YOU!?"

"Duh! Why do you think I call myself Youngblood? Only the young can see me, only kids!" Danny clued in as he gasped.

"Wait a minute. In the sub, at school, at my house. I was the only kid there!" Danny replied to dropping Youngblood as the ghost coiled up his lasso with an answer.

"Well, that and your sister who thinks she's a grown-up." Danny paused again before he questioned again.

"Then what about my friends, you were there briefly, what's the deal with that, huh?"

"Oh, that's a good one!" Youngblood answered with folding his arms. "I have a unique power that hides me from everyone else, except those few people I personally choose to appear around, haven't really figured that one out fully, but back to the game on hand..." Youngblood beamed as he continued. "Everybody thinks you're crazy, now get back there and prove it!" The lasso flew true and leased Danny before he was spun around and launched with a yell, he turning intangible and landing in the bathroom before reverting back to human, pausing to turn off the Alibi and open the door to Jazz guarding the door and Jack waiting to get in before he spoke.

"Geez, can't a guy get two minutes of privacy?" He stomped back to his seat as Jack rushed in, but he didn't use the bathroom, no, he used it to be 'heal' by a hidden jumpsuit as the RV rolled on and Youngblood complained.

"Oh man! I wanted to see the camper go KABOOM!"

"That didn't sound very cowboy." The horse pointed out as Youngblood scoffed.

"Whatever!" Youngblood beamed as he continued. "One more night of driving him nuts and his family will be ready to chuck him into the crazy person's hoosegow!"

"Much better!" The two took off after the Fentons as Jazz added more to the entry of herself, the entry talking about the nightly issues that soon came with a pair of Fentonwork tents up as Jazz wrote it out.

"Okay, maybe in retrospect, putting our family in the remote wilderness with an unstable brother who has ghost powers wasn't the best idea. But since there's no way I'd admit I'm wrong ABOUT ANYTHING, I had to keep Danny under constant watch." And that is exactly what Jazz did, but Danny certainly was pushing it rather much, as he must have spotted the ghost and spoke to both at that tie, at least, Jazz believed that is what happened as he spoke.

"Go away." He tossed the pillow and used that second to blast the ghost as Jazz lowered the pillow, to Danny pointing his finger to something.

"I can't do that, Danny. you may not believe it, but I understand what you're going through." There was a brief moment where she felt something pass through her head, but she was more focused on Danny as he replied back.

"No, you don't."

"But I do. More than you know. Look, I know you think there's a ghost here, but there isn't, Danny." Said ghost was prepping for a cow prod to Jazz's back as Danny turned as Jazz continued, closing her eyes in trying to prove her point. "And turning your back to me won't solve anything." If Jazz had kept her eyes open, she would have seen Danny fire another ectoblast, bouncing it off a pan and hitting something right behind her as he turned right on back and exclaimed.

"Fine, then I'm going to sleep!" He dropped down and covered up, 'falling' asleep just as quickly as Jazz remarked.

"You can't fool me, Danny, I know you're awake in there!" The snoring changed to farting as Jazz remarked with confusion. "And gassy?" She removed the top of the sleeping bag to find Tucker's device sitting on a pillow as Jazz huffed. "Nice."

Danny, after phasing through the ground and taking to the air again, searched for any sign of Youngblood, but nothing considering how close Jazz was to getting a burnt tattoo of YB on her back or head before her voice spoke up. "Danny?" He quickly went into the RV as Jazz came out, to Danny opening the door and pleading with her.

"Jazz, you have to unlock the ghost weapons! We'll all in danger!"

"Yeah, from you!" Jazz exclaimed as she pried off the hands as Danny tried to explain himself.

"I know, you think I'm crazy, but I'm not!" Danny exclaimed as he did try. "You can't see him because only kids can see him!" Youngblood returned, this time with an axe as Danny pulled Jazz away, the dent in the ground APPARENT to both of them, but in her infinite wisdom, Jazz didn't notice and instead moved to keep Danny out of the way until his 'insanity' calms down.

"Wait. I do see him. He's right behind you!" She faked and Danny fell for it as he yelped with turning.

"Where!?" With that, she punted him to the RV, the door closing to her push of a button before locking it down as Danny exclaimed to planting himself against the window in exasperation. "Jazz! What are you doing!"

"This is for your own good, Danny." Danny tried to open the door, but it was locked, he hated that it could only be opened with the device that Jazz currently has as he yelled with slamming his fists against the glass.

"LET ME OUT!" He stopped with another idea in a whisper. "Duh! Ghost Powers." He quickly went ghost and headed for the other side, but Jazz activated the shield and Danny was effectively trapped inside as Jazz called out to him in the RV.

"And just to humor you, I'm turning on the ghost shield so no ghosts can get in... or out." That didn't help any as Youngblood came out of the kids' tent and started to push the parents' tent toward the rushing waters, Maddie stirred for a second, only to put on earplugs to block out the noise and the likely danger that was going to come as Danny yelped to the same, hoping that Jazz would actually notice.

"Jazz! Turn around! Look, Mom and Dad's tent!" She did turn, but she dismissed the small bend of the tent to just be normal, though she could have noticed that it was... a few feet form the campsite and closer to the rushing waters for some reason, but she didn't as she turned right back.

"Forget it, Danny. I'm not letting you out of there and I'm not taking my eyes off you for one second." He grimaced as Youngblood continued to push, so he tried to do something to get him out of there or get Jazz to notice as what happened were windshield wipers and blasting Jazz with some water as she scoffed. "Oh, real mature, Danny. If you're gonna be delusional, can you, at least, act your age?" Danny retorted.

"Or maybe you should act... your age." The answer clicked as he blasted her with more water as he tried to crack the shell of adulthood that Jazz had made for herself. "You're not an adult, Jazz, you're a kid, just like me!"

"We're focusing on your problems, Danny, not mine!" Jazz sassed back, but Danny was not done as he started to make faces, that was getting on her nerves before he used the loudspeaker and started to call her a 'spazz' before she exclaimed. "Cut it out, you little brat!"

"I know you are, but what am I?" That caught Youngblood's attention as his horse kept pushing while he checked out the spat between brother and sister.

Jazz tried to stand her ground to Danny's immature behavior. "Will you grow up?"

"Will you grow up?" Danny mocked in a mimic of Jazz.

"Stop mocking me!"

"Stop mocking me!" Jazz turned to ignore him, but there was one thing left that Danny used against her as he gasped with reaching for it. "Oh, oh! Who's this? Is this Bearbert Einstein?" He then jabbed a barbecue fork into the stuffed toy's face and gasped to the action. That provoked a reaction as Jazz whipped about and shouted.

"Leave him alone!" The fork came out with some stuffing, Jazz freaking out while Youngblood chuckled before Danny put the fork down and... ripped more out of Bearbert with an evil grin and that was the last straw as Jazz cried out in upset. "PUT HIM DOWN! PUT HIM DOWN! PUT HIM DOWN!" That also got Danny just the reaction he wanted as Youngblood laughed aloud and spoke.

"Man! She's even brattier than I am!" Jazz paused as there was suddenly a third voice here and she exclaimed.

"Who said that?" That caught Youngblood by surprise and Danny beamed as Jazz turned and gasped to the green-haired, green-eyed cowboy floating right above her, wearing a look of shock as she exclaimed once more. "A ghost? A ghost! You're not crazy!"

"You have now stooped to my level, thank you for shopping Fentonmart!" The moment was broken with the tent getting shoved into the waters and both glanced to the other before Jazz Jazz unlocked the RV with ghost shield, Danny sitting there before Jazz rushed over before the ghost could recover.

"I'll take the RV, you go... somewhere I can't see you and get help!" Danny leapt out and Jazz got in, sparing a glance to the fallen Bearbert before gunning it, the weapons coming back online by manual control as she exclaimed. "This is for Bearbert!" With that, she floored it, the RV taking off after Youngblood and blasting at him as the horse rescued him while Danny exclaimed his catchphrase and took off for the tent, Jack stirring to find the same disaster, but Danny saved them by they could have plunged over the edge as Jazz continued the chase with a yell. "THIS IS FOR BEARBERT!" Youngblood recovered as he questioned.

"What are we running away for?" He floated up and fired spurs at the guns, cutting them off as Jazz came to a halt, the pair charging to ram, but Danny snatched Youngblood off and slammed him into the roof, Jazz flooring it again as Danny confronted Youngblood.

"You wanna play with the big kids, Youngbutt?" He grabbed Youngblood and held him over the ground, head getting burnt as Danny exclaimed. "Having fun yet?" Both Maddie and Jack dusted themselves off to find the RV roaring past and Danny attacking it, plus Jack somehow pulling out a ecto weapon from an unspoken place as Youngblood landed on the roof again, the horse making a gun to hit Danny, but Jazz got him as Danny mused, the head now in Youngblood's hands. "Not so tough now that she can see you, huh, kid?"

The RV came to a stop as Youngblood countered. "What are you gonna do? At some point, I'm gonna squirm free. It's not like you can lock me up in jail or something." A Fenton Thermos smacked Danny in the face as Jazz exclaimed.

"Sorry! Slipped out of my hands." Danny grinned before blasting the capture beam, Youngblood yelping with his skull into the Thermos as Danny capped it and answered YB's question.

"So, in the end, no matter how abnormal things seemed or abnormal our life can be, everything was back to normal or our version of normal anyway." This was added to Jack threatening Danny and Jazz giving him the chance to escape with a short water blast form the RV as Jack exclaimed for a Fenton Towel, stat...

* * *

"So yeah, sometimes I do feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders and I am the only responsible adult in the family..." She paused to look up as Phantom flew in the night sky of Amity Park. "But... Danny's responsible and he's a kid, which means it's probably safe for me to be a kid every now and then..." She sat back down and picked up Bearbert, he looking much better than before and half-expected that blasted Alibi device to be lodged in his stuffing, but she was surprised when the toy spoke.

"E equals MC squared and we have 'bearly' just begun!" She paused before pulling it away as it spoke again. "Fusion is quite explosive, but nothing is too much for a genius!", "Three point one four is Pi, normal and numbers reversed!" Jazz paused before she reached in and pulled out a teal MP3 from the toy, a light flame decal on it as she found the back and read.

'Dear, Jazz. Tucker WANTED to prank you with the Alibi, but I got to Bearbert first, Talia is quite an expert with thread and needle, so I programmed a full playlist of good Einstein quotes and mixes for you, Danny also apologized for his mistreatment of Bearbert, we hope you can accept this gift from us. -Cedric, Talia, Topaz, Sam, and Danny-' Jazz beamed as she put it back in, a resounding click in it before she sat back down and listened, the number of theory and topics that Bearbert was now saying was soothing, just like how he was when she was just a little kid, afraid of the dark...


	28. S2 - The Ultimate Enemy P1

In the distance time of a decade forward, the world lay in rubble and destruction, except for Amity Park, protected under a blue shield where the the lives of all was that of a picture-like future as cars flew overhead, very few remaining the same like Casper High, but much like time, others have grown as Valerie Grey soared across the sky in the domed city as a few kids called out to her. "Hi!" Valerie peered down with a salute before rocketing away to the edge of the shield, arrays generating the shield in its dome-like form as she landed on one and set her jet-board on the railing before checking the circuits peering at it before she turned with activating her watch, connecting to her father on the other side of the city.

"Ghost Shield Tower Nine one hundred percent operational." The static connected to Damian Grey, in a uniform and wearing an eye-patch as he answered back.

"Great, sweetie. Let's check the last tower and get ba-" The watch suddenly went to static and Valerie exclaimed in concern as she tried to raise him again.

"Daddy? Daddy?" The watch connected to a dark background, the only things able to be seen were a pair of red eyes as a gruff, yet firm voice came through.

"Hello, Valerie." Without a face, Valerie still KNEW who it was as she answered in disbelief.

"You, again?! I don't care how powerful you are, ghost, you can't break through the shield!"

"Until today..." It trailed off to a bellowing sound, like a intense howl form the beyond as the sound shook the entire city as windows shattered across the city before Valerie gasped to the tower, HER tower, getting its power drained fast and it erupting into flames as she jumped, her board saving her from becoming paste, but that was not the end of it as the next tower exploded like Nine, following into a domino effect as the shield drained out and died to the dark environment that surrounded Amity Park before alarms rang out to the thundering overhead, underground bunkers erupted from the ground and the people falling into panic as Valerie looked to her watch once more, the demon himself still on as he mused. "You like the new power? I call it my... Ghostly Wail." Valerie almost responded before something came flying at her and she got hit, crash-landing in front of the Nasty Burger 2. She groaned with opening her eyes before she gasped to what just attacked her.

"You?" The figure replied.

"Yes, me." It was the Fright Knight, but without his blade or his mount as he spoke. "And I serve a new master now." Valerie scrambled to her feet as the Fright Knight blasted another crystal blast, but Valerie was prepared as she summoned her board and took flight as the second Nasty Burger was destroyed, Valerie's mission only one now.

"Gotta get to Dad..." The Fright Knight blasted for take Valerie out, but she was too quick as she soared upwards before pointing herself to the Fenton Building and blasted off, the Fright Knight not letting as he generated a enormous blast and fired, Valerie dodging as the large blast destroyed the upper portion of the building and Valerie took that chance to soar downward to the lab as the Fright Knight suddenly was beaten back by a moniker of the Iron Exorcist as Valerie arrived and spoke to her father who was missing an arm. "Dad, the Fright Knight's here. Which means **He** can't be far behind. What do we do? What do we-" Anymore was lost as the Wail rang out once more and Damian told her what to do now.

"Valerie, run." Both glanced to the portal as the red lights of alarm were cut off to a glowing green fissure coming toward them before it erupted open in green light, the same dark figure with red eyes emerging as the green highlighted across its muscular form in a jumpsuit, hair alight of white flames, a white cape draped across its shoulders before landing, facing the two before him with the same red eyes that haunted the outside, the pale white of the conqueror, and the once-proud DP emblazoned upon his chest that meant hope, now a symbol of doom. He spoke with fangs, pointed ears, and a goatee as the once-hero Danny Phantom was long gone, in place of this relentless being.

"Hello, Valerie." Valerie gaped at him before he finished with a smile. "And goodbye." Raising a hand, he released an ectoblast, FentonWorks exploding before long, but the frame froze before bringing up the image of this 'Dark Danny' in the Ghost Zone as one voice spoke to the chronicler of these events, set like stone within the tower of time itself.

"Now do you understand?" A small ghost soared up to it in a purple hood and a scepter of time in hand as it spoke with a mature, male voice.

"Yes. Danny Phantom grows up to be the most evil ghost on the planet." The small ghost shifted in an instant to a more manly form as he turned, a scar trailing across his face as he questioned. "What do you want me to do about it?" In the shadows of the tower, two others view the same with high-collared capes while gears turned on.

"You are the Master of Time, Clockwork. Isn't it obvious?" The second moved forward into the ghostly light, an eye within a green bolb that was part of a regal appearance, a member of authority there.

"To save the future, Danny Phantom must perish." That was the command given by those who can only see the forward movement of things, while their 'servant' could see the movement from all around it, the fate of Danny Phantom now in question...

* * *

In present day, all of Casper High had gathered in the auditorium for the announcement that could change their future as Mr. Lancer spoke. "Your future is not carved in stone, people, but it may be carved with a No. 2 pencil." He answered with holding one up as Sam and Tucker groaned in disbelief to it.

"Oh, please."

"Quiet, this is important!" Both looked to him as he watched with intensity before exchanging looks with each other as Cedric, Talia, and Topaz paid a sizable amount of time, Cedric understanding the coming topic, Talia invested in seeing how well her own learning has gotten her, and Topaz just to see if anything had changed too much from how she took it as Lancer continued on the podium, as the letters and what they meant were displayed on the screen behind him.

"As most of you have probably forgotten, you will be taking the Career Aptitude Test on Saturday." He beamed on as he gestured ot JAzz seated on the stage. "Do well, like Ms. Fenton here who got-"

"-the highest score in the history of the C.A.T.-" Danny dully joined Lancer's praise as the overweight teacher continued.

"-And a successful future will be assured." Lancer finished with 'popular pictures' on the screen before he turned to the other half of the C.A.T., the failing half. "Fail, like Irving 'Third Degree' Burns here, who got the 'lowest' score in the history of the C.A.T., and you will be doomed to a career at the Nasty Burger." That was hardly a fair compare as Irving huffed angrily.

"Hey! Working at Nasty Burger takes brains, you know! If those forty-two Nasty Secret Herbs and Spices in our Nasty Sauce are overheated, it could cause an explosion that could take out a whole city block!" No reaction as Irving gave up so quickly. "Oh, who am I kidding. My life is over." He slumped off the stage as Lancer held up the answer booklet to all of the auditorium.

"These aren't just the answers to the test. They're the answers to your _future_. So study." He held up a briefcase and put it in, before locking it up and cuffing it to his wrist as he finished. "Remember, it's your future. Do you want fries with it?" Lancer marched off the stage as Tucker turned ot Danny who was looking defeated, like someone kicked his puppy.

"Dude, you OK? Danny?" He just stared ahead in trying to process it while, in the Ghost Zone, the observors of the events viewed the same loss before the first eyeball ghost spoke up to their servant.

"What are you waiting for? It's the perfect chance to take him out!"

"That's the problem with you Observants." Clockwork answered as he shifted into a child once more in lecture. "All you do is observe."

"You know our oath. To watch-"

"-and never act." Clockwork answered with drawing close as he continued, his form shifting to an aged old man with the same tone of voice. "Which is why you bring me in to do your dirty work." He raised his staff to the screen to Danny studying on the kitchen table, a certain air of dismay and... did the time-bound ghost sense... belief in Phantom? This was something odd, the future was already shifting in some way as he spoke to the studying boy, back in his adult form and to his infant form. "He turns evil because he's under pressure for some test? Fine. Then perhaps it's time for a test of my own."

* * *

Danny tapped on the paper while books and the like surround him, it a sample test before he dropped the pencil down and hummed in displeasure. "Man, I didn't know that this was going to be so hard, I know that Cedric and the others have helped me out greatly, but this is hurting my brain right now." He picked himself back up and tried again in figuring it out, but honestly that was hard without a sample sheet to work with, did Casper expect that their students to success without a sample to give them a basic understanding? He focused back on as Jazz peered over his seat and watched him try to mark the answers, pausing to her sounds, she knowing the answers, but couldn't reveal them before he dropped the pencil and breathed in the tension. "OK! I get it! You're brilliant, I'm stupid, and I'll never be able to get as high a score as you." He peered right back to the paper with a huff. "So far, I'm not even qualified to scrape the grease off the Nasty Grill." He shook his head as he laid back some, not flicking the pencil away, just moving it out of the way for now as Jazz spoke up in sympathy.

"All I want is for you to succeed, Danny. And doing well on this test can help." He propped his head as Jazz started off once more with her personal study methods. "There are three things I've learned in life-"

"Study hard, do your best, and-" Jazz stopped before she gasped.

"Duck!" Danny stared, but it was only for a second before a metallic boomerang slammed into his head and he yelped as it clanged onto the table.

"Ow! Thanks for the heads-up!" Jazz frowned as Danny picked up the device as he questioned. "A boomerang?" Jack and Maddie arrived as Danny hurled the boomerang away as Jack explained it.

"I call it the Booo~merang! It locks in on a ghost's unique ectosignature and seeks it out wherever it goes!" Danny's eyes widened at the meaning before the Booo~merang smacked him in the back of the head again and Maddie caught it with a frown, Danny groaning with a 'that's on me that time'.

"Although why it's keyed into Danny is way beyond me." Yeah, way beyond them, they don't even have an ectosignature of him and it was keying in on him, not Skulker, or Talia, or even Topaz, just himself for the moment. Jack broke the silence as he glanced to the sample test.

"What's that, Dan? One of those stupid C.A.T. tests? I failed that and I didn't turn out to be a cat." Jack answered with a pleased tone to himself as both walked away before Danny let the presence get to him as he growled and swept at his stuff.

"Oh, I give-"

"Time out!" Time came to a standstill as the objects of paper and book froze, Jazz froze with a sneeze coming on before a blue light flared and turned into a clock hand, sweeping a blue disc out before two figure formed, the figure known as adult Clockwork and a small child ghost in overalls, a beret, and pigtails before the ghost mused, the second either asleep or unconscious in the air. "Ah, good. Parents gone." He switched to his child form as he continued. "He's alone with his sister." He flew around them before approaching the second ghost and setting his staff to float in the air before pulling out a medallion on a ribbon, its shape that of a gear and entwines letters of CW in the middle before he dropped it around the ghost girl's neck and she woke up in confusion.

"Huh? What? Where am I?"

"Amity Park, before you were born." He pointed in his elderly form to Danny as he explained to the listening youth. "That boy there is part ghost. My employers believe him to be a threat to the world." He changed to his adult form in finishing up. "Could you be a dear and dance a little dance for us?" She stared at him before glaring at Danny as Clockwork spoke up with slamming the button on top of his staff. "Time in!" He disappeared in a swirling ball of light and time resumed as Danny finished his rant.

"-up!" Jazz sneezed and his sense went off, confused as there wasn't a ghost beforehand in the kitchen or anywhere near him, he would have knew beforehand as he spoke. "A ghost? Here?" He quickly about as he exclaimed. "Now get out of my room!"

"We're in the kitchen." She gasped to the ghost floating behind Danny before she exclaimed. "But if that's your attitude, I don't wanna see you - or anything you might do in here in the next several minutes!" She walked off as Danny found it a bit too easy as he mused.

"What's with her?" He turned and flinched to the small, ghost girl before him with a yelp. "Gah!" He went ghost and asked the big question. "More importantly, what's with 'you'?" The ghost announced herself like a familiar foe with arms in akimbo.

"I am Box Lunch, daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady!"

"Um, ew." The mental image was real, how even... what even... just WHY? Box Lunch continued her threat.

"And now you will face the test of my box-and-lunch-based doom!" She lashed out her hands and the canned and boxed goods came to her before forming a suit of armor around her as she continued. "And now-" She paused to make a sweet little voice. "-and you probably know this is coming - BEWARE!" Danny launched himself at the offspring of the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady, shattering the armor and soaring them out of there. The location in question having Mr. Lancer and his cuff briefcase enjoying some Nasty Burger before Sam and Tucker approached and he questioned.

"Shouldn't you slackers be studying for the C.A.T.s?"

"I've already studied."

"I'm sure we'll do fine."

"The test answers in this briefcase may indicate otherwise. Enjoy your Nasty Burgers while you're still on this side of the counter." He just started to laugh as the two just gave unimpressed looks to the man before Lancer's burger came alive and smacked him in the face as he exclaimed. "Fast Food Nation!" Across the restaurant, the food soared out as well and gathered around its calling source, Topaz gripped her fist as she ranted.

"Somebody is going to get hurt for taking my chicken sandwich..."

"Which is odd..." Talia answered as she bolted out with Cedric and Topaz as well as they took in the ghost that Danny was fighting. "...I don't recall seeing a ghost like her before and her essence is intermixed, she is a ghost spawn!"

"You mean...?" Cedric questioned as they peered back up to Box Lunch making another threat.

"Prepare to taste defeat! And perhaps a nice side salad with that?" She asked in a sweet voice as Danny dropped his face into his palm and answered.

"Pass, I got no time for a meal on the mind." Box Lunch looked offended before she ranted.

"Then feast on my empty calories of doooooom!" She fling the food at Danny to which he just let phase through him as he answered honestly.

"Oh, come on! If you actually are the child of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady - ew - then you know how this ends-" She possessed more strength in her frame than expected as she closed the gap and slammed both fists on top of him, launching him into the Nasty Burger as the people ran for it with Sam and Tucker looked in, the trio not making a move quite yet and were equally unsettled by the fact that Danny said that the ghost was the offspring of the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady as Box Lunch came down to fight on as the employees of the Nasty Burger made to escape too.

"Let's get out of here!"

"No! You can't leave!" Irving called out as he tried to keep the peace and order in the joint. " As a duly deputized Nastronaut, you took an oath to protect the Nasty Sauce from overheating at all costs!" He pointed to two tall vats with a dial for a color warning scale as the second employee yelped her peace.

"At minimum wage? I don't think so!" Both ran for it out the back as Irving called out to them in a shout.

"You can kiss Employee of the Month goodbye!"

"That's right!" Danny mused with taking a short pause form Box Lunch. "He said at the assembly if this stuff gets too hot, kaboom!" He quickly snatched one up and readied as Box Lunch made to rant again.

"Prepare for-" The packet smacked into her beret as she yelped as Danny spoke up with a smile.

"Box Lunch! BEWARE!" He fired a concreted beam at the packet and it started to expand up, he grimacing with turning intangible and it exploded, taking out a portion of the Nasty Burger and the crowd covering their faces from the flying food and rubble, Danny himself soaring through a briefcase and back out before he landed beside Sam and Tucker, Irving stumbling out before Lancer exclaimed finally.

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance! Run!" With that, everyone ran for it as Tucker asked as the friends got up, the trio once more joining in confusion of what even just happened with Danny.

"Danny, who was that ghost you were fighting?" Sam was helped to her feet as Danny explained.

"That was Box Lunch, the daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady."

"Yikes."

"Actually, it's more of an ew." Danny shook his head as he continued. "I don't know what's going on..." He glanced down to the medallion that was around Box Lunch's neck and made to grab it. "...But this medallion might give us a clue-" He paused again as he felt something on his back and plucked it off to see that it was the answer packet for the C.A.T. "Oh my gosh. The answers to the C.A.T.s!" The trio in the tower observed as Clockwork knew what was going to happen, in trying to assure that Danny would give it up, he would be selfish and keep the packet for himself, but he still spoke.

"Now watch this. He'll make the right choice. And you'll see, you've got absolutely nothing to-" But, instead of praise and joy for getting the answers, Danny peered about as he questioned.

"Shoot! Lancer's gone though, what am I supposed to do with this now, I can't be an idiot and take a look, I was already doing very good nowadays."

"You're not actually thinking of peeking at the answers, are you?"

"A cheater would, just to make sure that he wins out in a test." Danny answered as he reverted to human. "This... this is something more, this is a point of life that is asking me if I take the chance or win it fair and square." He held it before lowering it and plucking the medallion up. "We have other things to take care of right now." They headed out as Clockwork was surprised, that was not how the future was being written, he was taking an alternate path from the chaos to come, but the Observants still believed that Danny had fallen to corruption.

"He's stolen the test answers."

"He's clearly going to cheat!"

"He has your time medallion."

"He has your time medallion."

"You said that twice." He shifted into his child form as the first Observant demanded.

"Destroy him now, Clockwork." He shifted back to adult as he placed his hand on another gear window.

"I know what I'm doing." It showed a robotic ghost with two faces as he continued in his lecture. "He put the answers to the test in his hands, and he made the wrong decision." The future told the same as it showed the vats getting heated up with a active burner and the viewer changed to Clockwork's control as it showed Danny going against the robotic ghost, then his bound future to showing his family, his two friends, and Lancer bound and gagged to the vat before the Nasty Burger exploded and Danny called out in despair as Clockwork finished in his old form. "His future is sealed."

* * *

The following day, the trio walked thorugh the halls of Casper with Cedric and Talia close behind, Topaz beside Danny and dividing him and Tucker apart a bit as Sam inquired. "So, are you going to return the test answers or not?"

"I will! I will. I'm just... waiting for the right moment."

"Like, maybe, after the test?" Danny frowned at him as he continued. "Yeah, you're right." They passed the teacher's lounge as Topaz added to it in defense for Danny.

"Baby-pop had a lot going on, if we weren't around to keep him on track, he would be tempted, but as it rolls, he has more pride and dignity than to cheat, this is a big thing for him, so he is better off doing the work for real."

"Thanks, Topaz." He faced forward as he continued as Lancer listened on. "I just wonder how the heck did the packet end up with me, Lancer had it under lock and key." They headed away as Lancer gave a questioning look before closing the door, he set the briefcase down and opened it with the key, popping it opening with a gasp, the packet to the answers was gone.

Close by, Jazz was talking to a few of the girls as she inquired. "So, it's a choice between Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, and I can't make up my mind!" They just walked away as she called out. "So...see you after school? No?"

"Ms. Fenton, may I speak with you after school?" Lancer inquired as he approached Jazz, a sense of alarm on her face at the sound of that as the six headed to Fentonworks and Tucker TRIED to hack the medallion since it seems to have some form of tech to it, but nothing, not even with a direct line of wires to it as he mused the same thing with them.

"I can't seem to hack into it. It's really hi-tech."

"Yeah, like it's from the future or something."

"Well, speaking of the future, I think it's time I started preparing for mine." He picked up his pack and set it on the table as Sam spoke in the negative term.

"You mean cheat."

"No, I didn't say cheat." He cracked opened a book he had and the sample sheet again and tried once more, this time with a clearer head. "The packet may be with us, but I have no reason to use it, I need to do this on my own, not through the real answers of the C.A.T., Dad may have failed it, but that didn't make him him, did it?" Both glanced to each other as Topaz lifted the medallion up and questioned.

"CW... Why does that sound so familiar to me here, and what was with Box Lunch?"

"I agree, Box Lunch is too aged... she is not of this time frame." Talia answered as she continued. "The more human-like ghosts are able to age and grow at the same pace as regular humans, the more... attuned spirits can either age slow or swift, but I can't feel her presence now, as if she just..."

"Disappeared?" Sam asked as Danny worked it, the packet slipping out and he took a few tissues to clean it off in between taking the sample, being both thorough and clear with it now. "But that's impossible, sure ghosts can..."

"I agree with Tal." Topaz answered as she rubbed her jaw as well. "Ghosts are very resistant, even a small blast like that couldn't do them in, but she just disappeared, her presence is just not here anymore." Danny gasped as he accidentally removed the seal and groaned with an upset tone before a blue light emerged behind them, the ghost senses going off as a robotic amalgamation appeared, just like how Box Lunch did and none of them sensed it beforehand. Tucker and Sam sighed in relief, on accident as they knew that Danny didn't want to open the packet, but still it was a surprise to them too before they exclaimed ot the ghost.

"I mean... Oh no, a ghost." Danny went ghost and rushed the ghost before getting backhanded and inquiring as the being loomed over him.

"Who are you supposed to be?" The head engulfed in green flames spoke in a familiar tone.

"I am Skulktech 9.9, the future Ghost World's greatest hunter!" The face on the chest spoke as well which was instant warning bells in all of their heads, the voice being a mad scientist ghost that they all knew.

"With its greatest technovillain as his operating system!"

"Skulker and Technus together?"

"Is that an ew or a yikes?" Several claws arms emerged from Skulktech as Danny answered in surprise.

"Definitely a yikes." He dodged out of the way as he got Tucker and Sam out of there before coming back, the trio going on the offensive as they kept him occupied, btu his focus was Danny as Danny dodged as best as he could before getting grabbed the Skulktech spoke for the end.

"Say goodbye!"

"Ghost Child!" One of the claw started to spin like a scale saw before the gauntlet started to beep to Reveille and Skulker exclaimed in surprise and confusion to the lifted device.

"Someone's hacked into the system? Again?! I thought we fixed that!"

"We did! We must have accidentally synced up with somebody else's PDA!" The combined ghost turned intangible as both rocketed out of there, dropping Danny as the door opened back up as Tucker questioned in muse.

"Wow. I can still hack into his operating system with my handheld computer. I don't know whether that's exciting or depressing."

"Come on, follow me!" Danny exclaimed as the three Demis and Iron Exorcist took flight as Tucker and Sam just mused otherwise.

"...We'll walk." They did so as the four chased after Skulktech into the evening sky, but at Casper High, Lancer explained to Jazz what had happened, she not believing it as he has been doing great in getting his grades up, he didn't even have a reason for stealing the packet as she exclaimed.

"So you're saying Danny stole the C.A.T. test answers? But how?"

"I don't know. Unless your brother suddenly gained the ability to turn invisible and reach through solid objects?" Jazz cringed to the sound of that as she spoke otherwise in Danny's defense.

"But Mr. Lancer, you still have no proof Danny took the test answers."

"Fair enough. He has up until the test to return the answers. But if he cheats, I won't just fail him. I'll destroy his future." Not that Danny could, he was more dealing with the amalgamation that just attacked him and his friends as Skulker exclaimed to his techno system.

"What are you waiting for? Activate the Purpleback Gorilla Override!"

"Don't tell me how to do my job!" Danny blasted them and they plummeted into the Nasty Burger before taking flight again, the vat now getting heated up even more as Technus spoke. "Activating Phantom Palm Pummeler!" The hand opened and fired a blue-white beam as Danny before hitting him again, Cedric catching him as he exclaimed.

"You're shorting out my powers?!" Skulker mused the same.

"Indeed. The Pummeler might not work on you in the future, but we had a feeling it would work on you here."

"The Future?" The four were not liking where this was going as Technus laughed.

"Oh, I love it. You're much less powerful than that other Phantom we have to deal with!" Another blast came as the Iron Exorcist dodged, but accidentally dropped Danny, his ghost form active, but he was trying to figure out what the heck Skulktech was going on about.

"What are you two talking aboooou-" Another blast caught Danny as he yelled in falling before catching himself on a flagpole, amazed that it could work. "Wow. That flagpole thing works? I thought for sure it would-" The pole snapped. "-breeaaaak!" He bounced off and awning and landed in the trash, getting up from it as he mused, his performance was less than stellar. "Guess I don't have a future as an Olympic gymnast." Skulktech had not forgotten him as a hand snatched him and electrocuted him some as Skulker spoke to the hand slamming him into the ground with Technus following.

"You don't have a future, period!"

"Not anymore!"

"I wouldn't bet on that." Sam and Tucker arrived as Tucker ran the override and got Skulktech, shorting them out as both grimaced.

"Aw, poo." They fell before catching hold of a flagpole as Technus made the same mistake.

"Wow, that flagpole thing really-" It snapped and they fell, denting a street light and hanging there, Cedric grimacing to the medallion not hanging from Skulktech's neck before Danny exclaimed to his two arriving friends.

"Way to go, guys!"

"Come on, Tucker, let's see if we can get this off!" Both of them grabbed it and started to trying prying it off with Topaz as Talia and Cedric bound for the medallion as it fell, Cedric snatching it in time, holding it up before a blue aura surrounded Skulktech and trail all the way to the four of them as Talia shouted.

"Watch out!"

"Talia! The arm, grab it!" She did so with him as the whole party were disappeared from Amity Park and were flung into some strange clock tower as the grip released and they got up, Cedric receding his armor and putting the medallion on, for safekeeping as Tucker wondered.

"Where are we?" They peered up into the gear-filled darkness before approaching a window that peered out into the green of the Infinite Realms, the Ghost Zone as Danny spoke.

"I don't know. The Ghost Zone, I think." It was the Realms, but no part of the realms ever charted as Danny finished. "But... no part of the Ghost Zone I've ever seen."

"It happened right after his medallion fell off."

"Then I think I know how to get us back!" He spotted a box that contained six medallions before taking one and slipping it on in triumph. "Haha!" But nothing happened as Tucker sighed with dropping his arms.. "Nothing, huh."

"No, but nice bling." She strolled over to the stand that they just came through as Danny walked over, taking Tucker's medallion in hand as Cedric looked at his own.

"I don't like this."

"You're going to like this even less." The party joined her at the viewer as it was showcasing a future version of Danny, laughing and blasting in a ruined landscape of a future ten years forward, attacking people and buildings alike as Sam spoke. "I think I'm seeing your future. And you're kind of a jerk."

"But what caused this to happen?" Topaz asked as she got this unsettling feeling that they were in some place untraveled by any ghost before. Danny just watched as the future military rolled in to deal with him, before he unleashed a sound-wave from his own voice, blasting cars, tanks, and helicopters away before Sam spoke again.

"OK, you're 'really' a jerk."

"Wow, what is that?" Danny exclaimed with taking the full picture in. "Some kind of ghostly wail? What a cool power!" The five stared at him before he corrected himself. "...If it weren't being used for evil!" Tucker turned with his PDA to see what Skulktech knew.

"Let's see if this future boy knows any more about-" He stopped when Skulktech glowed the same aura and flew into the viewer before Tucker exclaimed. "I didn't do that."

"I did." They all turned to the purple hood, the scepter of time in hand, and the scar trailing across the pale blue skin of the being before them, arriving from the dark above. "I sent him back to his own time." He changed into an elderly form as he explained. "Or, should I say, forward to his own time." He continued in explain with shifting forms with a child as well. "You see, for me, time moves backwards and forwards, and-" He huffed in his elderly form as he finished. "Oh, why am I bothering. You're fourteen."

"Who are you? Where are we?" Danny was just as quickly pulled away by Topaz as she was wearing a terrified look on her face, the party pausing as Talia was actively hiding behind Cedric right now.

"Never ask that question, Baby-pop! NEVER ask that question to him!"

"Topaz!?" The rockstar Demi bit her lip as she pulled Danny away.

"That is no original ghost, that's Clockwork, he's the master over all of time, the myths and rumors about him are numerous and chaotic, some believe him to be a benevolent force while others see him as the hour before their timely doom, he controls time, period."

"Strange how my sight has rendered you unknown to me, young one, but it is true and your introduction of me is quite true and false." He reverted to a child as he explained the reason for the arrival. "I've been charged with the task of eliminating your future, so that never happens." It showcased the dark future once more as Danny exclaimed in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me. Name one evil thing I've done!" A adult Clockwork smiled as he pointed to the viewer again, to show Jazz finding the opened packet and exclaiming in disbelief as Tucker spoke up.

"Bet, you can't find two!" Danny glared at Tucker for that as the sobbing Jazz was changed to the evil Danny down an alley of wreckage before taking flight as Clockwork inquired.

"How about two thousand." He asked with switching to the child form before Danny exclaimed.

"I don't have to sit here and explain myself to you! I'm going ghost!" He went ghost and charged before the adult Clockwork spoke.

"Time out!" Time stopped before it reversed to when Danny was going ghost as he shouted again.

"I'm going ghost! -Whoa. Serious deja vu." He hummed before going ghost and charging once more as Clockwork did it again.

"Time out!" Danny slowed to a frozen stop before Clockwork let him fly by with a look of surprise on his face to what just happened. "Time in!" Danny resumed and slammed into a bell, getting clammed into it time and time again as Clockwork spoke. "I could do this all day, but I have a schedule to keep." He turned elderly with one final press, Danny dropping down as Clockwork, in his adult form, snatched a scythe and charged down as the party called out, the armor enveloping for Cedric to jump in.

"Danny! Look out!" Danny zipped away to the gear he landed on getting shattered before Clockwork froze time once more, Tucker and Cedric the only ones still active among the friends as Tucker inquired in confusion.

"Hey, wait! Why would he freeze time for Danny and not for us?" He suddenly noticed that Talia, Topaz, and Sam were frozen as well, Cedric gripping his hands in pondering as well before Tucker waved a hand over Sam's agape face. "Hey, Sam?" He hummed before Cedric clued in, the medallion under the armor working just the same as he realized it as well.

"That's how Box Lunch and Skulktech were able to be in our time period, the medallions keep them anchored there, we are free from Clockwork's time freeze while wearing them!" Tucker beamed as he took his in hand.

"I knew these medallions were good for something. It's like a Get Out of Time Free card!"

"Grab four more, I'm helping Danny!" Tucker nodded as Clockwork approached the frozen Danny.

"Time's up, Ghost Boy." He raised the scythe, only for it to get blasted out of his hands as he turned to the Iron Exorcist with smoking palms.

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls, for the bell tolls for thee!" He blasted Clockwork away as the medallions slipped onto the party and Danny recovered as he questioned.

"Huh? What happened?" He landed with the party as Sam exclaimed.

"We leveled the playing field. Just get the bad guy!" The Exorcist hovered by them as he spoke.

"But why send Box Lunch and Skulktech right at us in the first place, his power is time, so why send future ghosts to attack us, he could have just frozen Danny in time and stopped his heart or something." Danny realized it as well, he could have, so what was the real point of this, was Clockwork the real bad guy as the ghost of time spoke.

"You six have seen too much. You must be eliminated before you permanently alter the time stream." Five ghostly soldiers appeared, all donning Clockwork's face, but fully armed for the fight as Clockwork continued in switching form his elder form when he spoke of the time stream to his adult form. "Nowhere to run, children." Danny had one other option and his friends and allies had the same idea as he shouted.

"Nowhere, but the future!" He snatched Sam and Tucker while Talia and Topaz were grabbed by Cedric as he jumped through the viewer and into the future as Clockwork mused with turning into a child.

"Then let's see if you have what it takes to face that future."

* * *

The portal tossed them into a street that belonged to the ruined Amity as Tucker looked around uneasy of the landscape before he spoke.

"Man. If this is what we have to look forward to, I'm definitely not taking the C.A.T. test."

"How do you think this all happened?" Talia shook as she spoke as well.

"I... can't feel my future self... she's gone here."

"Mine's worse." Topaz answered as she looked around. "I... can't feel my root core for music, more like a glutton who lost everything, even her life..."

"I don't know. But based on what we just saw, I have a really bad feeling I'm the one responsible." Danny answered as he floated before some rubble erupted and an older Valerie sprung out as she exclaimed.

"Got that right, ghost!" She fired and blasted a huge crater in the ground, Danny having gone intangible to avoid the blast before he shouted at her.

"Valerie! Listen to me!"

"You can't fool me this time, Phantom!" She fired once more ad he dodged before she sent her jet board to ram Danny, knocking him off balance for a net to catch him and drop him to the ground before training her gun on him. "I've been waiting a long time for this. Goodbye and good-" A blast came as Sam and Tucker stopped Valerie from attacking Danny anymore.

"Valerie, no!"

"Don't shoot!" But Valerie was speechless to the two faces before her as she exclaimed.

"Sam? Tucker? I-It's not possible! This is a trick! You can't be alive!"

"Wait. Not alive?" Tucker dropped his arms in disbelief at the sound of it. "That's our future? I'm definitely not taking the C.A.T.!"

"The C.A.T... That's the last time I saw you alive." She breathed as she recounted what even happened then. "The explosion at the Nasty Burger... you, Tucker, Danny's family-" She somehow grabbed her bazooka again as she shouted at the entrapped Danny, training the weapon on him. "-And it was all your fault!" A green flash of green whipped past and blasted Valerie away as the six looked to face the face of evil as he mused.

"Actually, that was me. And you, eventually." Danny could feel the hate now, the malice, what had happened to cause him to cease being a hero, Danny Phantom, and become this incarnation of darkness, this Dark Danny or worse... Dan Phantom...


	29. S2 - The Ultimate Enemy P2

Dan peered down on the party as they looked in terror to him before he landed and spoke. "Sam and Tucker. It's been a while. Ten years, to be accurate." He raised a hand and swept, freezing them in piece within green light as he inquired with walking closer. "So, to what do I owe this little blast from the past, and who your other friends seem to be?" He stopped to take in the medallion around Sam's neck before he spoke again. "Clockwork. Meddling again." He was blasted away, sweeping a hand through the smoke to Valerie blowing on a wrist blaster before he charged, she tossing grenades that went through him as a green blob before reforming and closing the gap between her and him, plucking her up and punching her across the pavement as she propped herself back up as he spoke. "I suppose out of respect for our past, I should let you live." He grabbed her by the holsters before finishing. "But that's not how I work." He lifted and tossed as Danny, having gotten free from the net, exclaimed.

"Valerie!" He caught her in the air and turned them intangible before crashing on the other side as she spoke in recognizance.

"You're from the past, aren't you?" Danny said nothing as he got up as Valerie continued. "Almost... forgot how cute you were back then." She slumped to the ground as Danny questioned.

"You thought I was cute? Wow! An older woman likes me." Dark Danny mused as he stood before the five remaining there, frozen.

"You know, if I had an ounce of humanity left in me, this would be a touching little reunion." They exchanged nervous glances as Dark Danny finished. "But of course I surrendered my human half a long time ago." Danny arrived back and the ghost sense of red flared from Dark Danny's nostrils as he commented. "Oh, please." He turned and blasted as Danny blasted back, getting both of them and dropping the green aura around the party before Danny exclaimed with sitting up.

"Tucker! Sam! Guys! Run!" They did so as Dark Danny stood back up with musing.

"Run? Where are they going to go?" He turned and unleashed a Ghostly Wail, Danny covering his ears from the sound, but it was directed at the crumbling FentonWorks building, bringing it down on the party as Tucker spoke to Sam.

"For the record, I blame you." Danny made to save them, but Dark Danny stopped with with grabbing his foot as he spoke.

"Ah ah ah." Danny gasped as the building collapsed on his friends, burying them before he was shocked, reverting back to human before getting tossed over to the rubble, getting up to find four medallions before him before he realized what it meant.

"They took off their time medallions!" He stumbled to his feet as he continued the thought with one of the medallions in hand. "That returns them to their time period just like Box Lunch and Skulktech! They made it out alive!" He didn't pause to realize that there were suppose to be five, not four medallions there as he took a hold of his own. "Which means I can-"

"What?" Dark Danny questioned as he sized Danny's arm and lifted him up with dropping the medallion. "Go back for them? They're doomed anyway. And you aren't going anywhere if you can't remove your time medallion." His hand glowed green before ripping the medallion off Danny, giving him no time before the medallion was turned intangible and stuffed into Danny's chest as he screamed and slumped unconscious as Dan spoke. "In fact, you aren't going anywhere at all..."

In the present, Jazz drove up to the Nasty Burger and looked around for her brother. "Danny has to be out here somewhere." In the alley by the destroyed section, a orb of light glowed before it dropped Tucker, Sam, Talia, and Topaz there before Tucker found volume as he screamed, the girls crossing their arms as the geek finally realized that they were not in danger as he asked.

"You got the medallions off, didn't you?"

"I don't accessorize well." The other two shrugged as Sam continued. "Unfortunately, Danny's still stuck in the future fighting his jerky older self! We've gotta help him!" But that idea was out of the running when Jazz found them and spoke.

"Tucker? Sam? You got a second? Let me answer that for you." Jazz cut them off as she spoke on, Topaz and Talia looking around before they started to clue in on something very wrong. "Yes, you do. I know Danny stole the answers to the C.A.T. That he's going to cheat!"

"Way to jump the gun, Danny wasn't going to-"

"Sam, enough. I know more than you think I do. A lot more. So I suggest when you see Danny, you tell him I wanna talk to him. Tonight! Because if I don't, I will be talking to our parents and Mr. Lancer tomorrow." She walked off as Sam exclaim in confusion.

"Lancer knows Danny has the answers?"

"Oh, man, is he in trouble."

"That's gotta be it. Danny cheating is the thing that leads to that horrible future!"

"Let me get this straight. Danny gets caught cheating on a test, and we pay for it with our lives? How is that fair?" They nearly left before Talia spoke with grief in her voice.

"Where's Cedric...?"

* * *

Danny started to come too, before a statue or memorial as he spoke. "Mom? Dad?" He rolled to his knees, since his arms were bound in green ecto-rope as he took it in. "Gone, but not forgotten..." That meant... his family, his friends, this was what happened to them, why Valerie said that 'can't' be alive, he glanced to the side to find Lancer's, which was buried to only show the 'GONE' part before he questioned himself in standing up. "And where's the Nasty Burger?" He looked around to find it, crumbling to ruin and decay before Dan returned as he mused.

"Strange how one massive fireball of highly combustible condiments can... ruin your whole future."

Danny looked down to his chest as he questioned. "The time medallion?"

"Fused inside you. Nice, huh? Intangible and unreachable whether you're ghost or human which means... you can't go back in time." He raised a hand before opening a portal elsewhere as Danny exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter if I go back in time or not. I'll never turn into you! Never!" But Dan spoke otherwise.

"Of course you will." He changed, but Danny knew that it was a fake, the mirror of him had no life, no heat, nothing but the cold touch of a ghost, it won't fool anyone as Dan continued through Danny's body. "It's only a matter of time." He grabbed Danny before hurling him into the portal as he continued to Danny's screaming into the place that he was tossed into. "I need you out of my way and out of my hair while I make sure nothing happens to change my past." He pulled out a time medallion as he grinned. "And luckily, this is all I need to make sure of that..." A ecto blast rang out and he hissed as the medallion was knocking out of his hand, the armored youth standing by the portal there as he spoke behind the visor.

"Cute trick, too bad, you are just a poor mimic of the real deal."

"I don't know who you are or what you intend to accomplish, wannabe robot, but this is my future and I will ensure that it happens."

"Funny, if you did know me, then you would know exactly what I can do." Cedric answered as he beamed. "As it stands, this is a future untouched by me, why Clockwork couldn't make heads or tails of the additions, that's because what I did, who my companions are, and what has been done was not seen initially, no one expects a man to run on ecto energy, especially my refined source." With that, he blasted himself into the portal as it closed, Dan pausing before picking up the medallion once more.

"What Clockwork couldn't see... who exactly did Clockwork not see either...?" Dan shook his head as he used the medallion to warp, backwards to the present as he mused. "...And to get where and when I need to be." Back in the tower of Clockwork, he tampered with his staff to a blank viewer, his mind wondering who the three that came with the initial trio were, he saw all, but what exactly happened to involve those three and were they trustworthy? He didn't mused for long as the two Observants appeared and he stopped as the first questioned.

"Have you completed the task?"

"Everything's fine." Clockwork answered crossed before he smiled. "Everything's the way it's supposed to be." He turned to the viewer console and brought up 'Danny' by the Nasty Burger as he turned into his elder form in explaining. "And there's your boy, back to his time. Safe, sound, and clearly not evil." The screen went back to blank as he turned to the pair. "Now. Care to observe the door?" The two glanced to the other before disappearing, Clockwork still frowning as he turned into his child form, the dark future was not set, especially now that it was clear that someone else was involved, somehow altering the timeline before the initial start.

Back with Dan, he mused as he took in the Nasty Burger, intact... mostly. "The Nasty Burger. Still standing. For now..." He glanced inside to find that the heat was building and that meant the plan was on schedule, but he didn't ponder it long before a pair of voices spoke up.

"Danny!" He turned surprised as Sam and Tucker rushed over to him, Talia and Topaz gone to tend to something down in Kentucky, a note from Cedric their guide, as Sam hugged him.

"You made it back!" Tucker joined in as he asked.

"Did you beat that evil jerky pus-pack alternative version of yourself?" His eyes flashed red for a second before he chuckled in Danny's voice.

"Always with the quips. In my weaker moment say, sometimes I miss your droll sense of humor." But that nearly tipped them off as Tucker questioned.

"I'm sorry?" Dan thought fast as he slipped up, a bad start from the beginning.

"I'm just kidding! I beat my other self quite easily. Had you guys going there for a second, didn't I?"

"...Well... we should probably do what we can to stop the Nasty Burger from blowing up, huh?"

"Already done! Now, who's up for..." He stopped to ask himself about it too. "...what did we used to do together?" He recovered as he finished. "Playing some games and raging against the machine?"

"We're in!" Both shouted as Dan was somehow able to hide his plan from the get-go.

* * *

Danny soared through the Ghost Zone as he struggled against the bindings. "Gotta get out of this! I'm going ghost!" He turned into Phantom and struggled once more to escape, but they were not able to be busted as he gave up. "Well, it was worth a shot."

"Well, well, well." The voice was familiar, but the appearance was not, Danny couldn't believe that the most annoying and easily dealt with ghost was not that of a tough and muscled dock worker, eye-patch on, tattoo of a heart and arrow, and his right hand was replaced with a hook as he continued. "All this time we've been planning how we'd take the fight to you, and here you are. Wrapped up like a present." Danny adjusted as he spoke the name in surprise.

"Box Ghost?"

"Beware." He blasted a beam at Danny, launching him into a more chunky form of Ember as he exclaimed to the larger ghost.

"Ember?! You look..."

"Like I went to seed right after you destroyed my vocal cords with that Ghostly Wail of yours?"

"I was gonna say statuesque, but uh-" Ember strummed out a punch chord and launched Danny into a balding Johnny Thirteen in a wheelchair as he exclaimed. "Johnny 13?! OK, whatever happened to you, I swear I had nothing to do with-" The black blanket over Johnny's legs came alive as Shadow as he spoke.

"'Been waiting a long time for this, punk."

"Wait!" Danny pleaded as the ghosts came closer. "No! Nooo!" And they attacked. Meanwhile, in the present, Dan floated into Danny's room and commented with distaste.

"My old room." He walked over to a mirror touched it, having seen or heard from Valerie which was unexpected, normally she would be all over his rear for being Phantom, something was very wrong as he commented to the younger face. "And my old face." The door opened to a peeved Jazz as she spoke.

"Danny? We need to talk."

"And my old sister, Jazz. What do you want, Jazz? I'm busy." Jazz approached as she reached into the backpack she had, the Boo~merang between them on the floor.

"Yeah, busy cheating!" She said, pulling out the C.A.T. answer packet as she continued. "Lancer was right, you 'did' steal the answers! Don't you understand?"

"That I'll be destroying my future? Haha. You don't know the half of it." He answered with taking the packet and book bag form her as she contineud to get to the bottom of it.

"Danny, I know all of it." Dan shoved the packet back into the bag as Jazz continued. "About everything. That you're part ghost." She picked up the Boo~merang as she continued to scold Dan. "That you're always doing the right thing with your powers. Until now." This took Dan by surprise as he questioned.

"You knew?"

"I know. And I've been covering for you with Mom and Dad because I'm proud of you, and the good that you do. But not anymore." Jazz internally knew the truth, Danny KNEW that she knew as well, so this was an impostor somehow as Dan spoke.

"You always were smarter than I gave you credit for." He abandoned the disguise, revealing himself as Dark Danny as Jazz stammered, it was an older, more vile-looking Danny as she spoke.

"You're-you're not Danny!" She backed up in dropping the Booo~merang as she repeated herself. "That's why the Boomerang wasn't homing in on your ecto signature! You're not Danny!"

"I was. But I grew out of it. The Danny you know is floating helplessly in the Ghost Zone ten years in the future."

"He'll escape. He'll beat you!"

"How? Is the answer A, the Fenton Portal? Destroyed it. B, the only remaining portal? The one my idiot cheese-head archenemy has? As soon as I find it, that's going too."

"Cheesehead? Vlad Masters?! 'He's' your archenemy?" But Dan just continued as he mused.

"Is it C, _you_? No. You can't stop me from cheating on the C.A.T. and solidifying my future, so it must be D-" He blasted her with an ectoblast, freezing her in green as he finished. "None of the above!" She dropped unconscious as Dan donned the disguise again before pulling out the packet in amusement. "Well, what do you know! The answer to the first question 'is' D." He laughed and set it up so no one would be the wiser.

But Jazz was not done in as she tossed in her bed and gasped in waking back up.

"Danny! Nooo!" She stopped to realize that she was in her bed now, how did she...? "Huh? What?" Jack kicked open the door as he came into the room with the Booo~merang in hand.

"What's up, princess? Are you OK?"

"I'm in my bed? I'm alive?" She thought for sure that that impostor would have silenced her to keep his plan form getting exposed as Maddie laughed with kicking Jack out of the way.

"Well, of course, you're in your bed and you're alive, sweetie! Danny said you fell asleep helping him study and we tucked you in."

"He even woke up bright and early to make sure nothing happened to make him late for the big test!"

"Oh no! The test!" Jazz jumped out of bed and snatched the Boo~merang form her dad, getting down to the lab before holding up a folded piece of paper nad taking off her headband, tying the piece on the metal device as she spoke to it, hoping that it will find Danny, the real one. "I need you to find Danny. Fourteen-year-old Danny, ten years from now." She drew back and hurled it into the swirling green of the Zone, it seeking out its charge through the ages before it finally found him, the red signal turning green on the battered piece of tech and homed in on him as Danny was bounced around by his angry foes as Skulktech and an older Kitty joined the bash before Ember pinned him against a solid piece of the Zone as he pleaded.

"Please! I didn't do all this to you, it wasn't me!"

"Oh, stop! You're responsible for the horrible things that happened to your world 'and' ours." Skulker answered with Technus following.

"To everyone you've ever come in contact with!"

"Your family, your friends, and most importantly, us." Ember answered in backing off as Danny pleaded, he catching a glance of someone familiar as he shouted.

"But-I didn't do any of that!" But the ghosts powered to attack before Danny started to panic and unlocked that same power that Dan used. "Get away. Get away! Get AWAAAAAY!" His scream ripped through as a Ghostly Wail as it blasted the ghosts back, destroying his bindings in the process as he reverted partly to see what he just unleashed. "Whoa." The ghosts were knocked unconscious before Danny questioned. "My voice is changing? Great." He reverted back to full Phantom as he moaned. "I'm going through evil puberty. Everywhere I turn, my stupid future is smacking me in the face!" Something hit him in the back of the head as he exclaimed. "OW! I DIDN'T MEAN LITERATELY!" He took in the thing, to find it was the Boo~merang which meant something in the long run as he saw what else was on it. "...A note?" He took it before tossing the Boo~merang to the side with unfolding the note and reading it out. "Wisconsin? Plasmius. Figures he's involved in this!"

"I won't jump to that belief yet, Danny." He turned to find the Exorcist as he stammered.

"Cedric... I-I didn't..." But the Exorcist rushed over and hugged Phantom as he spoke.

"Thank the Realms you're alright, I was worried to just leave you to fight your darker future..." He released and continued. "...But I know better, this is a future not involving me or any additions, this was a future set with only the trio in mind."

"Only...?" Danny gasped as he spoke. "You mean...?"

"Dan didn't recognize me, at all! He figured I was an impostor which means that the future Cedric can also help us, if we can explain it, but that would be a paradox." He shrugged as he spoke. "Let's find out what Vlad's part in this story is..." Both soared in search of what would stand out, heedless of the mimic scoping in on them before following in their shadow...

* * *

Dan moved with interest to ensure the dark future to come, stunning Jazz when she came to stop him and cheating on the test, with a firm belief that the future was his once more while in the future Ghost Zone, Danny mused to the 'subtlety' of Vlad. "Well, that's Vlad for ya." Both looked at a giant purple football as Danny continued. "Subtle as a flying mallet." They pushed it out of the way before going through to a cave packed with equipment before an older Vlad's voice spoke up.

"Come to kick a defenseless old man while he's down?" Danny inquired as Cedric stayed on the ready.

"Defenseless? Old?" Danny approached the chair, emblazoned with a V before it turned to a ragged old man with outgrowing hair of bread and mane, dark rings under the eyes, suit torn and stained and wearing no shoes as Danny questioned in sympathy. "Man. What happened to you?"

"I could ask you the very same question, my boy." He stood up with the aid of a cane. "Although, perhaps I should ask what 'hasn't' happened to you. Yet." Vlad recounted it all to the two of them. "If it's any consolation, they went so quickly. They felt no pain." It was broadcast across the papers then after the event, the Nasty Burger exploding with only Danny the only survivor as Vlad continued. "Unfortunately, the same could not be said of you, Daniel. With nowhere else to go, you came to me, the only person on the planet who could possibly hope to understand your situation." He told how Danny in this time line was utterly lost, his whole world destroy and Vlad shared in his misfortune before he accepted. "All you wanted was to make the hurt go away. I honored your wishes-No more painful human emotions to drag you down."

The former Fenton Gauntlets became the Ghost Gauntlets as they extended out claws to pull out what Danny asked for. "Sadly, that freed you up to rip the ghost out of me." Grinning manically and with the whole pain of losing it all, the then-free Phantom donned the Gauntlet and ripped Plasmius and Masters apart, flinging both against opposite walls as Phantom dropped the Gauntlets and went into Plasmius, developing into the monster that came to be known as Dan Phantom as Vlad continued. "And when my evil ghost half mixed with yours, and my evil side overwhelmed you..." Phantom took form, but his body fragmented and screamed as skin turned light-blue, hair became a roaring flame, and rings of energy erupted from his body as Danny asked the needed question, the one that told him why there was no Danny in the future.

"What happened to my human self?" Vlad closed his eyes in raising a hand, with the two halves mixed, there was no mercy for the now Danny Fenton as Dan lashed out to Vlad's words.

"Some things, my boy, are better left unsaid." Danny looked down, realizing that with hatred and anger alone, welled up inside of himself, his ghost half would have still be the same? Cedric rested a hand on his friend's shoulder and he held it too as Vlad breathed in remorse, in picking up the photo of him and his friends, Jack and Maddie, from their college days. "If any good came out of this, it's that ten years without ghost powers have given me a chance to see what a fool I'd been."

"Maybe that's all anybody needs... a second chance. You still have those Ghost Gauntlets?" Before Vlad could answer, another spoke, a robotic one.

"That will not be necessary." Both turned to the Portal as a futuristic version of the Exorcist exited the Portal and readied to fire at Danny. "Your threat will be terminated, Phantom, once and for all." Cedric leapt in front of Danny as he shouted from under the visor.

"Override Code Seven-Five-Six-Seven, Epsilon Mu!" The weapons powered down as the robot stood still, its mechanical eyes pulsing with hidden controls to Cedric's surprise and his heart pounding in shock. "It... you are me... aren't you?" His fist clenched as this was not a future he would want, if Dan wanted to turn it into a nightmare...

...Then Cedric Trace will join Danny Phantom in stopping it completely, the plan to use proxies of himself was a plan conceived if he was... ever made less than human and more machine as the proxy spoke, its hidden face agreeing with only a glowing blue lens. "...Yes."

* * *

Dan finished his cheat and handed the test in, the plan going accordingly as Lancer soon called the Fentons to meet at the Nasty Burger while Vlad understood what Danny was asking, not inquiring about Cedric as he spoke. "So you're saying there's a medallion lodged within you, keeping you rooted in this time period?" He donned the Gauntlets as Danny answered.

"Yes. And I can't reach it. But I'm guessing if you could reach into me and rip out my humanity - which, by the way, sounds totally gross - you can get the medallion out too! Then I'll pop back to my present like Tucker and Sam did."

"Or I could just destroy you now and prevent this future. Didn't think of that, did you?"

"Vlad, maybe he didn't, but Dan wants to ensure that the future is his, he doesn't know who the Exorcist is or who is under the mask." Cedric spoke as Vlad came over with the Gauntlets. "You pull that medallion out of Danny, you send him right back into his present, to stop Dan from winning, so this future never comes to pass, and besides, I am the wild card, he won't expect a thing." Vlad peered to the robot as it nodded as Vlad breathed.

"Then here's to hoping that this future is not the real one, with you proving the same choice." With that, Vlad brought the claws down and Danny screamed, Cedric somehow channeling the medallion to his advantage as, in the present, the Fentons arrived with Dan to the Nasty Burger as Maddie questioned the meaning behind it.

"Mr. Lancer sounded urgent on the phone. Danny, is something wrong?"

"Not yet." The vats started to reach critical levels as Lancer spoke to the trio getting out of the RV.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, Daniel, this is the Nasty Burger. When people fail, this is where they end up- whether they fail because they don't study, or because they cheat." He said as he held up Dan's test, all perfect, but the parents gasped as Jack shouted.

"Danny! Is this true?"

"Did you cheat?"

"You have to get out of here!" They turned to see Tucker and Sam rushing over as Tucker exclaimed.

"The Nasty Burger's gonna blow, and we're three feet from it!"

"South Beach Diet, people, what's going on here!" Lancer exclaimed as Jazz also arrived, donning the Ghost Peeler armor.

"I'll tell you what's going on." They turned to her as she continued. "Or better yet, I'll show you." She fired the Peeler on Dan, shredding his disguise from him and revealing him as the dark future of Danny as everyone looked in shock, Sam and Tucker shocked as that was not Danny at all, Maddie and Jack agape as this was not Danny one bit either, while Lancer was surprise that it was a ghost who cheated on the test with Danny's form. "That's not Danny!" Jack and Maddie recovered with training weapons on him as they demanded.

"Where is he? Where's our son?"

"What have you done to our boy?" Dan Phantom laughed before glancing up to her with a smile.

"I **am** your boy!"

"What?!" The teacher and two best friends remained in shock as Dan sprung into the air and ranted with the sky twisted in green darkness.

"What kind of parents are you anyway? The world's leading ghost experts, and you couldn't figure out your own son was half ghost!" The weapons were still trained on Dan as Jack turned his head to Maddie.

"For the record, I blame you."

"Hello? Danny 'Fenton'? Danny 'Phantom'? Ever notice the similarity? Jazz did."

"She did?" Both questioned as they didn't notice that Danny was not Danny, they knew that she was fully aware about Phantom, but did Dan not know that at all as Jack yelled.

"Liar! Don't move!"

"Actually, nobody's going anywhere. Not until it's time for you to be blown everywhere." He fling a cord of ectoplasm at the party in front of the Nasty, binding them to the heating vat before gagging them, Jazz making an attempt to punch, but she whiffed it with a hole in his chest as he commented in glee, reforming it and turning his head one-eighty before the full turn around. "Nice try, Jazz. But me, _my future, _I'm inevitable." Two more appeared to Jazz's side and easily caught her off-guard before gagging her from her helmet and leasing her to the vat as well before he laughed in victory before the real deal came back.

"Hey, old man!" Dan turned to find Danny zoomed right for him form the sky. "Ready for a blast from your past?" He collided with Dan as the Exorcist followed close behind and jabbed hard into Dan's chest as Danny spoke to the captive members. "Don't worry. I won't turn into that. Ever. I promise." He looked over to Lancer as he spoke. "I guess this sort of explains my periodic absences, huh?" The Exorcist crashed as a rope of ecto energy caught Danny before reeling him in to Dan's grip as Danny spoke. "What are you gonna do? Waste me? What happens to you then?"

"You don't get it, do you? 'I'm still here.' I still exist. That means 'you' still turn into 'me'." He punched Danny into a light post as the Exorcist, staggeringly got up and tried to undo the bindings in vain, the backpack opening to the Gauntlets as Dan continued his rant. "I don't have to waste you. I just have to run out the clock until your entire life falls apart." He dove for Danny before Danny went intangible with the backpack, Dan ripping through the light post before Danny returned with Gauntlets on as he called out.

"Maybe if you'd remembered more about your family, you'd have remembered the Specter Deflector!" He whipped it out to snap it on Dan, shocking him greatly as Danny continued his attack. "Or the Ghost Gauntlets!" He delivered one mean punch as Dan crashed into a fuel truck and it erupted into blue flames as Danny landed, the Fenton Phones activating as Cedric called out.

"The bindings are leased to Dan, he is not down!" Danny grimaced as Dan emerged from the flames before ripping the belt off, but he was blazing still as he went for a punch, catching Danny off-guard as Danny laid flat on his back as Dan spoke.

"Your time is up, Danny." He spoke as he duplicated himself into four. "It's been up for ten years." They made to punch before one was vaporized as the Exorcist arrived as the three mused. "Oh, what can a tin suit do to me?"

"How about a tin suit that can channel ectoplasmic energy!" Cedric shouted as the Exorcist suddenly expanded in frizzing blue energy, a orb of the energy generating before the upper torso emerged like a shell and the eyes were the blue lens once more as the being was doubled the Exorcist's size. "POWER OVERWHELMING...!" This caught Dan by surprise as the being blasted and charged as Dan exclaimed to another clone destroyed.

"What are you, you are not part of my future!"

"BECAUSE THE FUTURE ME IS SOMEONE YOU HAVE NEVER KNOWN BEFORE, HIS TIN SUITS WERE THE ONLY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF HIS EXISTENCE!" He blasted once more and the two struck back, knocking the being back before Danny returned and smashed the clone before the real Dan pounded him hard into the ground, the being receding away to the Exorcist against the Nasty Burger as Dan questioned.

"What makes you think you can change my past?" Danny got up as he called back.

"Because I promised my family!" Dan laughed as he inquired.

"Oh, you are such a child! You 'promised'?"

"Yes! I PROMISED!" His shout became the Ghost Wail and it took Dan by surprise as he was blasted away and dug a trench in exclaiming.

"That power, ugh, it's not possible! I don't get that power until ten years from now!"

"I guess the future isn't as set in stone as you think it is." Danny answered as he landed before the down Dan before unleashing another Ghostly Wail, blasting through the street with power as it demolished the building Dan crashed into with Danny running out of power before he slumped forward in human form as Dan burst free, severely defeated as he questioned.

"Well, that's it, isn't it?" Danny narrowed his eyes as he had the last word in.

"Time's up!" He opened a Thermos and absorbed Dan in as Dan parted in utter defeat.

"Too weak to escape - and you're too late to save them!" Danny capped it before he realized what else he needed to do as he turned with a gasp.

"Oh no." The heat to the vat was overwhelming and the vat started to steam before Danny booked it, Cedric peering up with blood dripping down his skull from under the armor, Danny tried to will his powers to come back to save his family and friends, but only his rings appeared before they faded as he exclaimed. "I can't go ghost!" He tripped forward as time came to a slow as he yelled. "Noo!" They exchanged before the whole place erupted in flames as the shock wave blasted him back before everything just froze, a familiar clock hand appearing before Clockwork arrived in child form and flew up to Danny before slipping on a time medallion onto him. Danny gasped as he flailed in the air, just floating as he asked to the ghost before him.

"Clockwork?" The ghost simply pointed and Danny gasped to the captives saved in a nimbus of green light, the damages to the Exorcist mending itself as he stood up before Danny asked. "You saved them? I-I don't understand!" Clockwork gladly explained it out. in shifting to adult.

"The Observants look at time like they're watching a parade, one thing after another passing by in sequence right in front of them." He gestured to the wrecked Nasty Burger as he continued with Danny by his side. "I see the parade from above, all the twists and turns it might - or might not take." He said as he took on his elder form and gave a wink as Danny exclaimed.

"You knew all this was going to happen. All of it! Even this part." He said as he gestured to the saved people before Clockwork continued.

"Everything's the way it's supposed to be. And here we are with you, a fourteen-year-old child, risking everything to save the people you care about." Danny smiled with Cedric resting a hand on his friend's shoulder before Clockwork spoke once more, with staff in hand. "Time in!" Time rewinded back to the test itself, all frozen in time before Clockwork picked up the packet and offered it to Danny. "You've given everyone else a second chance." He shifted to child as he inquired. "Why not you?" Danny took it with a smile as Clockwork disappeared and time restarted, Cedric outside as he had sent an excuse that he needed to take the C.A.T. in detention, a 'family' emergency as Sam and Tucker glanced up to Danny standing there with the packet with a smile before Lancer inquired.

"Mr. Fenton, is there a problem?"

"Um, actually Mr. Lancer, there is." Danny answered as he walked over, Jazz walking to the door to attack, but gasped as Danny approached Lancer with the packet. "I, uh, found this the other day. Outside the Nasty Burger." He slip it over to Lancer as he hummed in finding something off.

"Hm. The seal is broken."

"Yeah. I know. A-and, I'm sorry. I couldn't stop myself from looking at the answers when I was trying to clean it off. But I'm not a cheater! And I never will be!" Jazz beamed as Lancer accepted it as he explained.

"Well, you'll have a chance to prove that when you take the make-up test next week, now won't you?"

"Really?"

"You'll have plenty of time to study for your make-up test in detention, with Mr. Trace. But for now..." He gestured to the door as Jazz ducked away, forcing Danny out as he spoke to Cedric.

"Clockwork still let you keep the medallion?"

"I think he let the both of us keep them." He answered as they walked through the halls. "He didn't know that my involvement in the past would have resulted in such a change, Cedric to-be was interested in ghosts when Dan hit the scene with intense power, the suits were proxies of the Exorcist, so when he or rather the Observants failed to see me along with you back then, that turned me into the wild card no one was expecting."

"So we don't have to worry about Dan anymore?"

"Danny, we always have to worry about our own demons coming out, but Dan is not foretold, his is a future when you despaired with losing Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Jack, and Maddie, where Vlad finally got the son and apprentice he wanted in his bitter heart, we don't have to worry." Cedric spoke as he gripped his hand with blue energy volts from the bracer. "Things are different, Dan couldn't see that, Topaz and Talia are here with us, the family knows that you are you, and there are more surprises to come..." Danny beamed as there was one final matter to attend to, reaching into his pocket to pull out a teal headband...

* * *

Danny sat on the front steps in waiting before Jazz arrived, he had already witness Talia just lock lips with Cedric as she was at a loss for him not returning in time, Topaz being a bit more passive as she waved to Danny and he waved back before he asked his older sister. "So, how long have you known?"

"About the test? For days. But I'm really proud of you for not cheating."

"No, not that." He pulled out the band and note from his pocket and offered them to her. "Your headband, your note, your handwriting..." Jazz stammered as she spoke.

"What? That?" She blushed with a shrugged as she continued to try and brush it off. "Oh, I didn't write that. And there must be dozens of headbands." Danny raised a brow before he asked.

"Jazz." Jazz sat down and took both as she voiced.

"Since the Spectra thing. I didn't want to tell you until you wanted to tell me. It's your secret."

"Well, it's our secret now. Honestly, you have known beforehand, but that evil version of me... he never did know." They hugged before Jazz spoke again.

"Don't think this means I'll stop being meddling and overprotective."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." He chuckled before his ghost sense went off and they turned to find a colossal monster with tentacles chasing a police car before Jazz spoke, Taila and Cedric smiling before they gave chase as well.

"Go." She rested her hand on his before he took off for the fight.

"Going ghost!" He went ghost as Topaz joined him as they were casual about it. "Ready to rock?"

"Got the pipes to belt it?"

"You know it!" The four confronted the titan as Danny called out. "Hey! Giant, green, and gruesome! Guess who's back and better than ever!" The monster was afraid as Danny struck, splattering ectogoo all over, and somehow all over Jazz as she mused, she was never really dredged in ectoplasm beforehand to be honest.

"This is gonna take some getting used to." In the Ghost Zone, Clockwork watched the viewer with a smile, Cedric already knowing that Clockwork took the Thermos that now contained the ultimate enemy of Phantom, the Observants not so pleased that Clockwork and that human derailed the plan to execute Danny.

"You manipulated the boy! You influenced his choice!"

"That's a direct violation of the Protocol of Temporal Displacement! In other words..."

"You cheated!"

"True, I cheated." Clockwork mused as he turned into an adult as he explained with glee. "But I assure you his choice was his own."

"You realize the boy is your responsibility now."

"As is his evil self, now that he exists outside of time."

"I know. But then, I know everything." Clockwork flew past the pair in his elder form before putting the Thermos down in the vault, it starting to bulge before a wicked face appeared in the metal and a evil laughter echoed across the chamber, but Dan was contained, there was no way for him to escape unless Clockwork released him for any reason...


	30. S2 - Secret Weapons

Night hung heavily on the movie goers coming out of the cinema as Tucker and Sam came out as well, stretching and the like, Topaz rolling her neck while Talia was asleep on Cedric who carried her out as Sam mused. "I can't believe we sat through all three cyber zombie commando movies."

"I could've used a little less zombie, and a little more cyber. But that's me, I'm all about the cyber." Topaz and Cedric rolled their eyes before the four peered about the street, in search of something before Sam called out.

"Coast is clear, Danny!"

"Sweet!" Danny spoke as he returned to the visible spectrum beside Sam and Topaz as he continued. "No sign of Jazz?"

"No sign of Jazz, Baby-pop." Topaz answered as Danny breathed easy.

"Good, ever since Jazz found out I was fighting ghosts, she's been kind of-" They spoke too soon as a pink sedan, contrasting the teal car that Jazz had when the whole 'future self' went down and Jazz jumped out of it with slamming Danny into the wall as he gasped. "-a bit more pushy than before."

"Danny, are you okay?!" She slammed a Thermos into Danny's gut as she exclaimed. "You know you should never leave the house without the Fenton Thermos." She lowered her voice as she inquired. "What if there's a ghost around?"

"There's no ghost around." Danny answered as he looked back to his sister. "This is just a short time of relaxation and if there was, my ghost sense along with Topaz's and Talia's would go off." Two flame breaths and a cold one went off as Jazz pointed it out.

"Like that?" They peered up as Skulker flew overhead, casting a glance to them as Tucker exclaimed.

"Skulker?! He's hunting you again?!"

"Again?! As in more than once?!" Jazz exclaimed before Cedric shushed them and they did so as Danny spoke.

"Jazz, take it easy. There's a rhythm to these things." He counted it off as he explained with gestures. "Ghost attacks, we exchange witty banter, I kick ghost butt, and we all go home having learned a valuable lesson about honesty... or something such nonsense, that is usually what happens with me at times." Jazz wrote it down as she nodded.

"Attack. Banter. Kick butt. Lesson. Got it. So, why's he not attacking?"

"What!" He opened his eyes from the explanation to see Skulker flying away as he mused in confusion. "That's weird, he is always going after my skin, being the 'Greatest Hunter' in the Ghost Zone."

"Trust me, Baby-pop, dated the guy, did NOT turn out as good; hunts rather well, but lacks social skills."

"Okay, so let's check it out." Danny and Topaz changed before taking flight after the hunter as he made for Axion Labs, searching for something before he found it and pulled it out as Danny inquired, the label saying 'Bloodstream Nanobots', and startled Skulker. "Bloodstream Nanobots? What are Bloodstream Nanobots?" Skulker whipped about as he fired a net as Danny yelped. "_Hey!" _He struggled in the net as Skulker just floated on past as Danny actually just got angry with Skulker as he shouted after him. "Get back here!" He charged and erupted the net open as he continued. "You didn't even call me Whelp!" He charged after Skulker as the friends were being drove by Jazz as Sam questioned.

"Jazz, did it ever occur to you that Danny has been doing just fine without your help?"

"Exactly! So imagine how much better he'll do with it."

"I don't recall you being an expert in ranged tools and weapons, Jazz, you only excelled in close-range tools." Cedric pointed out as he kept Talia comfy before they pulled up close to the Labs and watched as Topaz and Danny pursued Skulker into the night air before Jazz leapt out with Thermos in hand as she exclaimed to trying to catch him.

"You just earned a one-way trip to thermos land, ghost!" But her handle of the Thermos was too uneasy as she was launched back with the force and beamed it up to Topaz and Danny gasping as they were both caught and pulled into the Thermos as Sam and Tucker gasping as Cedric rubbed his temple, the pair now in the Thermos as Jazz grimaced to the 'capture' as both friends glared at her before she asked. "Think I should work on my banter?"

"Start with your aim." Tucker pointed out as Danny huffed in the Thermos.

"How long is it going to take to get us out of here, I am all for strengthening the bonds of 'friendship' and 'companionship' with my team, but not this close."

"Yeah, I second that, this thing is tight... get your hand off my..."

"...Do you want me on the bottom right now?" Cedric groaned with rubbing his temples, the trio looking to him as he answered.

"One of the unaltered Thermos, I can get them out, but that will take a few hours, so bare with it for now, you two, we have a long night to go..." But the steal of those Nanobots was something that needed checking out, now if only Jazz understood that she was not so skilled with ranged tools as she wanted to believe herself to be...

* * *

Day came, but Tucker was laughing it up as Danny growled as the six walked down the halls of Casper, Topaz has never been so glad to savor the air. "It's not funny, Tucker!"

"Come on. Six hours cram inside the Fenton Thermos. It's totally funny." They paused as Danny spoke again.

"Yeah?!" Now, while knocking the books out of Dash's hands was a plan, he used his jock friend's muscles on the other hand. "Hey, Dash." The blond turned in confusion before Danny spoke. "He needs to get stuffed." Dash beamed and Tucker gasped as Dash stuffed into the locker and headed off as Danny leaned against the locker wall as the techno geek exclaimed.

"Oh, c'mon!"

"Is it funny now?" Talia raised a brow as she asked to Topaz gripping her own hips and waist as she asked.

"Is everything okay, Topaz Lain?"

"I'm just trying to make sure that I haven't changed in any size or form." She raised her hands in gap and frowned. "I'm... a few inches bigger? Does that...?"

"OK, moving on!" Danny exclaimed as he didn't want to hear it right now as both Sam and Topaz seemed to share looks of jealousy and envy before Sam started to fiddle with Dash's combination.

"I know you're annoyed, Danny, but look on the bright side." She leaned in and smiled when she got it and left the locker alone for Tucker to open. "-maybe that's the kind of mistake that'll get Jazz to stop interfering."

"Doubt it, actually." The locker opened and Tucker glanced for a second before the locker closed to Jazz arriving, exclaiming a 'Darn it!', as Jazz spoke up with laptop under her arm.

"Guess what I found out." The five looked uninterested as Danny spoke.

"If it has nothing to do with Bloodstream Nanobots, then we don't have a connection." But Jazz was not stopped as she exclaimed.

"I've done pain-staking research on last night's mystery ghost." She opened the laptop to a decent setup of analyzing the ghost as Danny answered the unasked question.

"Uh, you mean Skulker?"

"Lets just call him Ghost X." Topaz snorted as Jazz continued. "And based on my research, I would characterize him as a hunter of some sort." Sam dialed it in again to get Tucker out as she remarked in opening the locker.

"Oh! She's good. We didn't figure that out until he screamed 'I Am The Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter'." Tucker fell out as Danny pointed out.

"But, Skulker didn't say anything, so technically for Jazz, she can call him 'Ghost X'." Jazz added to it as she pulled out a folder from her pack.

"Here's my composite sketch of Ghost X." Danny took it and they looked inside to a... rather accurate-looking model of Skulker on the right side and quips on the left. Topaz hummed before she spoke.

"Does the moronic blob justice, at least."

"And I took the liberty of crafting, I must say, some 'funny, witty' banter for your next encounter with him. Bye." She headed out as Sam took a look at it herself and read them out.

"See ya later, X; X marks the spot; You've been X'd!?" She stopped reading as she huffed. "None of these are funny."

"The only quips Daniel uses are on the fly, questioning puns. Jazz clearly lacks a real sense of humor within her genius mind." Talia mused as Tucker made it slightly worse.

"And nothing's funnier than her sucking you inside the thermos. You can't beat broad physical comedy like that with a one liner." Danny frowned, but Cedric cut him off as he tapped Kwan's shoulder, the jock turning with surprise from conversing with Star as Cedric spoke, gesturing to Tucker.

"Stuff him." Kwan nodded and plucked Tucker up before stuffing him into the locker, accidentally bending the door, but Cedric gave him a thumbs up as the pair headed off before Danny mused.

"But if Jazz 'thinks' I'm letting her help, maybe she'll stop interfering as much. Worth a shot?"

"Worth a shot."

"Anything is better than pushing her to the sidelines."

"We do need to be patient with her, but that is for later."

"Let's get to class before the bell actually rings for us." They headed off as Tucker huffed in his metal prison.

"Nobody's coming to get me, are they?" Cedric glanced down before he punched the side of the row, the door popping off and freeing Tucker as he fell again, needing to stretch again.

The day went to night as the team responded to a Lunch Lady attack at the local 'Mr. Meat' butcher shop as she shouted.

"Feast on my hot links of doom!" They confronted her in the store before Danny exclaimed.

"Okay, Jazz. Now!" Jazz slid in with the Jack O' Nine Tails in hand as she exclaimed.

"Stand back! I'm trained in this thing." The line lashed behind her as Tucker exclaimed to the incoming tool.

"Trained by her dad!" The Nine Tails grabbed Danny and he followed the swing as he clashed into the Lunch Lady, the links stopping before Jazz exclaimed.

"Wait, witty banter." She pulled out her notepad before she exclaimed. "Take that LUNCH-A-BELLE! And your evil weiners too!" She smiled as as Danny slammed into the wall, the Tails releasing him into a vat of hot chit-lins as the party looked to him as he rose from the vat before Cedric helped him out.

"Her handle of the Nine Tails needs some MUCH needed work."

"No... I have never used it myself before, so I guess...?" The next location was at Floody Water Park with Klemper as he froze the place over and was now hurling ice balls at them as he exclaimed.

"Won't anybody be my friend?!" Jazz charged with the Anti-Creep Stick, just a baseball bat as she batted the ice balls out of her path to Danny flying next to her running, Cedric was actually right about her possessing close-range capabilities.

"You're going up against him with the Anti-Creep Stick?"

"I know what I'm doing, Danny." She shouted as she batted more of the ice out of her way. "Give me your worst, Friendly Fiend. You haven't got the guts. Uh, guts?"

"Uh, yeah, see. The guts joke would have been better in the last fight." Klemper took a breath and blasted the ground into ice as Jazz stated to slip up and deliver a home run on Danny into the massive water slide, his impact bringing down the ice on top of the members there before Klemper ran away as Jazz exclaimed.

"I'm helping!" She paused in confusion as the members emerged from the ice, Sam and Tucker looking scornful while the other four were not so defeated as Danny spoke.

"It was working, but turning the ground into ice, Klemper managed to best me this time."

"Your ribs will be fine, despite the impact, and she was actually doing rather well with batting the ice away, her mistake was trying to close the gap with a ice-powered ghost."

"No, I got more grief from wannabe actresses." Topaz breathed as she heated up and melted the ice away as the team cleaned themselves off of the frigid landscape.

"I have learned to adjust to the cold as much as the heat, the desert can be both sweet and merciless." The next location was by the docks, the Box Ghost setting up shop there and they needed to purge him out as Sam and Tucker let them get buried under the crates while Danny wrestled with the Box Ghost while the trio tried to remove the crates by both force and strength before Jazz kicked open the door and shouted with Fenton Thermos in hand.

"Freeze!"

"Once again, right idea, but wrong fight."

"I got him! I got the Crate Creep!" Both stopped as Danny was ashamed of his own sister now, as the Box Ghost exclaimed with covering his face.

"Crate Creep? I am the Box Ghost! Who are you! No, seriously, who is she?" Jazz tried to be awesome, but her balancing sucked and she captured Danny once more, he not even surprised, leaving Cedric to breathe and smack the Box Ghost one before sucking him into his own Thermos as Jazz exclaimed to the trapped Danny.

"Whoops... Don't worry, Danny... We'll get you out of there... Eventually!"

"Honestly, this is hurting a lot."

"Surprised that your own fan is such a terrible person when it comes to other things?"

"If she tries to sing, I am giving her the boot." The members worked to organize everything while Jazz took Danny home as she still found the time to hum their success.

"That was a good night's work, Danny. We caught three ghosts."

"No, actually, you caught one ghost. Three times. All of them me!" Danny exclaimed, he didn't even know how she managed it in the first place as Danny continued with a huff, they pulling up to the RV. "Look, Jazz. I know you're trying to help."

"Trying?"

"And please don't be offended, but-" No sooner did he get the seat belt off, then a large hand snatched him up and brought him up to his father as Jack exclaimed.

"Danny, check this out!" Maddie was working on something in the GAV before jumping out to a device that read 'Ecto-Converter' on it as Jack continued. "Your mother and I have souped up the RV with an ecto-converter."

"Ecto-Converter?"

"It converts a ghost's natural ecto-energy into a constant replenishing fuel source." That's was kind of a waste of a converter as Jazz asked.

"Does it hurt the ghost?" Maddie laughed as she waved a hand at the question.

"Oh, Jazz! You know your father and I don't care about that."

"Yeah! If we hear it scream, then we know it's working."

"Which means, Jazz, it's in its alpha stages." Jazz nodded to the answer from Danny as the pair drilled down a sign that read 'Parabolic Reflector' on top of the GAV as Jazz hummed.

"Too bad there's no ghosts around, right, Danny? No ghosts here!" She playfully slapped Danny in the back as he spoke in a sing-song tone. "We know something they don't know."

"I get it, can we let it die now?" But Jazz just hummed before launching Danny into the Converter, it not hurting at all, but it certainly gave juice as the RV rocketed away, they screaming to the sudden boost before she mused.

"You really need to work on controlling your powers."

"That was not me controlling my powers, Jazz... that was me, fueling a ecto-converter with power, a little touch to a big boost..." He sighed as he turned in for the night, not even sure if he should call Cedric and tell him that Jazz needs a LOT more training before she is considered fit and ABLE enough to be hunting ghosts for real. But that was not the end of it as Skulker phased into the house and passed by Danny, his sense going off before Skulker headed down into the lab, clearly searching for some before Danny questioned to the hunter's surprise.

"And here I thought you weren't hunting me anymore." Danny floated there to fight the hunter off before Skulker spoke in demand.

"Where is the ecto-converter?"

"See, that's more like it! You make demands, I ignore them." But Skulker was not in a talking mood as he spoke in grabbing Danny by the front of his suit.

"Talk! Where is it?!" Danny pondered why would Skulker would be looking for an ecto-converter, specifically the Fenton's ecto-converter as he put a finger to his chin.

"Ecto-converter? Ecto-converter, hm, lemme think- oh, I know, in my hand." He answered before blasting Skulker away, the hunter swinging back around in tackling Danny out of the building, somehow causing Jazz to stir from her makeshift archive before they made it outside and Danny demanded from Skulker in dodging. "What do you want with the Ecto-Converter anyway? Or those nanobots you stole from Axion Labs?" But Skulker was not willing to reveal that knowledge as he fired a bola and ensnared Danny to one of the Op Center's satellite antennas as he shouted.

"I ask the questions. And since you won't talk, I'll just have to beat the answer out of you." His gauntlet expanded out five more blasters before Skulker demanded once more. "Where is it?!" The blast powered up, but before Skulker could, he was blasted away himself as Jazz arrived in the GAV as she exclaimed over the intercom.

"That's right, ghost! You better watch out! This baby's juiced up by the Ecto-Converter!" Danny waved his hands to dismiss it as, if Skulker was looking for it, then the last thing they would want is to give Skulker what he was looking for, but it was in vain as Skulker beamed with scoping the GAV out and locating the Ecto-Converter before he mused.

"I like your new helper!" He took to soaring toward the GAV as Danny shouted in disbelief.

"Jazz-" He powered free from the bola and righted himself before he took flight to stop the hunter. "-Stay away form Skulker!" But Jazz was bull-headed as she called out.

"You worry about Skulker, I'm going after Ghost X!" He fired once more as Danny exclaimed behind the hunter.

"THEY ARE THE SAME-" He was blasted when Skulker dodged and Jazz grimaced before Skulker made it to the back and ripped out the Converter, taking it into the sky as Jazz jumped out with Thermos in hand before Danny crashed and she exclaimed.

"Danny! Are you alright!? I-"

"No, no!" Danny huffed as he straightened up. "Here, let me save you the trouble." He pressed the Thermos button and got sucked in as Jazz peered about before casually walking away, she knew that she messed up somewhere, but her genius mind was not coming up with the answer, and that was going to divide the siblings before long...

* * *

"You want us to say something to her?" Tucker asked in Casper High, but where the party or rather half of the party were meeting was in a janitor's closet as Danny huffed back at the suggestion.

"I'm perfectly capable of talking to my own sister!" Danny answered before Topaz answered from on the other side of the door.

"Which is why you're hiding from her in a broom closet." Danny answered back.

"Am not!" But his reaction as Jazz approached the trio outside was evident.

"Danny? You in there?"

"HIDE ME!" Danny yelped as he dove into one of the trash bins and cowered in it before the door swung open as Jazz came in.

"Cool, secret meeting place!" Danny hid under as the trio watched as Jazz seated herself between Tucker and Sam as she explained it on her laptop. "So, I've pieced it all together..." She typed away in her explanation. "Ghost X is clearly using the technology he stole to build some kind of super weapon." Danny peered out from his spot as Jazz brought up... familiar notes of ghosts and the like as she continued. "So, I've compiled a list of his known associates." Technus was certainly not it, Box Ghost is too dull for such a thing, Ember IS STANDING RIGHT THERE as Topaz, and Vlad... Danny spoke up with furrowed brow before he stood up with it.

"Wait, where'd you get this?"

"From your computer!" Jazz answered as Danny jumped out in anger as he growled in rage.

"You hacked into my private files!? How'd you get the password!?"

"It's Paulina Fenton..." Tucker and Sam answered before Jazz spoke up.

"Actually, it was Nineteen-Zero-One-Thirteen Gem, REALLY threw me off actually than expected." She recovered before turning the laptop to show Vlad Masters and his alter ego of Plasmius. "How come you never told me Vlad Masters has ghost powers, AND he has a thing for Mom!?"

"Because it's none of your actual business!" Danny yelled as Sam and Tucker quickly chose to run for it.

"If you don't mind, we'll be over there doing the 'Glad I'm an only child' dance." They crawled out of the closet as Jazz spoke up to the ticked Danny.

"Danny, calm down." But he was pushed over the limit as he replied.

"Calm down? How can I calm down with you constantly butting your nose in where it doesn't belong!?" Jazz tried to stand her ground as she spoke.

"I was just trying to help."

"Nobody asked you to help!" Danny made to count off her flaws. "You're a lousy ghost hunter, an overbearing sister, and an annoying, obnoxious know-it-all with no respect for her brother's privacy! So stop helping!" Danny paused as a wide gasp echoed form outside the door, but the damage was done as Jazz was in tears before she ran out of the closet and away as he came out to a crowd glaring at him as he breathed and looked at them. "You ever get those days where your family is more or less butting in on your own business, I was just giving it honestly."

"And no one can deny him that." The crowd backed as Cedric walked over before he Gibbs slapped Danny and spoke. "But reality has a harsh way of treating people ousted from the activities of their families; Come on, Danny." He spoke as Danny followed. "Let's hope that Jazz will understand that you were just upset right now." They headed out and Danny headed home to sleep in, a pit in his stomach about something, but it only came up when his parents entered his room and inquired with Jack leading it.

"Danny, have you seen Jazz?"

"Huh? Jazz?" Danny stretched as he inquired back. "I haven't seen her since yesterday. Why?"

"Neither have we, we can't find her anywhere, she's gone." Danny grimaced as he whispered to himself.

"Oh no... is this my fault...?"

* * *

Up at Wisconsin, Vlad put it down to Klemper after the fool came soaring in, begging for a friend. "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, I will NOT be your friend!" Klemper started to tremble before the door bell up top rang and Vlad huffed with tossing the PJ ghost back into the Zone. "Oh, what now!?" He stomped out of the lab in reverting back, heading into the main foyer before opening the door to... Jazz Fenton, standing there and her ride the Specter Speeder which took him by surprise before Jazz broke down.

"Oh, Uncle Vlad." She snuffed before burying her face in her hands as she cried. "I've run away from home, my father's an idiot, my brother hates me, and I want to live with you!" She bawled before Vlad questioned the trail of speech.

"Wait, what was that?"

"I've run away from home?"

"No, no, after that..."

"My brother hates me?"

"No, in the middle!" Vlad recalled a similar moment when that happened in Colorado, between him and Maddie, as Jazz answered with a shrug.

"My father's an idiot...?" Vlad beamed as he spoke up.

"That's the one!" He beamed as he exclaimed. "Come to Uncle Vlad!" He beamed as he guided her in, making a note to stash the Speeder for both easy access and to hide it form prying eyes as, back in Amity Park, Maddie mused the situation before them as she spoke.

"It's not like Jazz to just... take off without saying anything!" Jack answered from his pacing.

"I know. She usually talks and talks and talks." He shrugged as he continued. "Big words I can barely understand." Maddie sat on Danny's bed as she asked him.

"Danny, can you think of any reason she might be upset?"

"Or why she might have taken the Scepter Speeder?" Danny started to think about it before he drew a logical idea.

"She's after Skulker..."

"What was that?"

"Um..." Danny paused before he explained. "I think I have an idea, but it involves a ghost named Skulker, she calls him Ghost X..."

"Dull name..." Jack answered.

"...But he recently dropped by to steal Bloodstream Nanobots from Axion Labs and the Fenton Ecto-Converter." Both hummed as he continued. "So, I think I can try to find her, but keep me updated here, I just need to be sure."

"Sure thing, honey, if you are certain of this..."

"I would not lie about this." He headed out as he beat himself over it as he headed for the lab. "I told her she was a lousy ghost hunter, so of course she decided to prove me wrong and hunt Skulker." He turned as he beat himself even more. "But if anything happens to her... I'll know it's my fault..." He finished as he soared into the Portal, but no sooner had Danny gone through did the phone ring and Jack check it out to see a six-o'-eight area code and more details as he mused.

"Six-o'-Eight Area Code, hey, that's Wisconsin, it's Vladdie!" Jack beamed as Maddie pushed the button to let the call through to a familiar voice as Jazz spoke through the line.

"Mom? Dad?"

"Hello? Jazz? Jazz, honey, are you alright? Why are you in Wisconsin?" Maddie asked as Jazz snuffled a bit before she explain it out a tad.

"I'm fine, I just can't be around Danny right now, so I'm staying with Uncle Vlad." Maddie yelped as Vlad lightly took the phone and explained it as well.

"Don't worry, Maddie and Jack, I think the two had a bit of a argument and both needed to clear their heads a bit, you know, 'chill in'."

"Out. It's chill out." Vlad looked questioned as he pondered it when Jazz said it.

"Really? That-That can't be right." Maddie's first reaction was rejection, but she calmed as she spoke to the phone.

"Vlad, can you promise that she will be safe and at ease while she is there?"

"Oh yes, I promise, I will look after her as if she were my own, farewell, Maddie and Jack." Jazz smiled as Jack beamed to Maddie's huff of easing up her own chi.

"What a great guy, good luck finding friends like that, huh?" Jack beamed as he was assured that she would be in good hands right now. "I'm sure she'll be fine." It could have got... very mature with Jack's next words before he exclaimed to getting the checker board, Maddie rolling her eyes as Vlad spoke to Jazz with the phone down.

"Well, that's that for now. I'll send for the rest of your things as soon as the lawyer draws up the adoption papers." He cleared his throat before he spoke again with a furrowed brow. "So, recently found out about my 'incident'?" Jazz was caught off-guard as Vlad explained. "Oh, please, Jasmine, Daniel need not say a single word to me about this event, I can tell that he was lashing out like any little brother would, but considering our 'ghostly' past times, you finding out about me was just a mere step in a different direction, he and I try not to be enemies, but he does play along to my own schemes at times."

"So..." Jazz asked with raising her hands up. "I have nothing against you at all, then my running away..."

"Is to clear your mind and air your feelings, no one is prefect, not even I." Vlad spoke as he took another drink of the tea prepared. "Besides, you are a curious little creature that I would not be surprised, but do play along, I feel like Daniel may come to see what's up." He chuckled while Jazz shrugged, if Danny and Vlad were on good terms, then she should just trust them in the very least.

The Ghost Zone saw Danny flying toward Skulker's island, hoping to get to the bottom of it and rescue Jazz form anything bad, but he didn't expect a door slamming him in the face as Skulker emerged with a lightning rod as he mused. "Excellent! All my tasks completed!" Danny yelped before he recovered and demanded.

"Where is she!?"

"What are you talking about, Whelp!?" Danny was not in the mood for game as he blasted at Skulker, the hunter dodging as the door behind him opened with Technus coming out, in a shower cap, a towel, and holding a brush as he ranted.

"Which of you fools stole my-" The blast meant for Skulker blasted Technus back through and the door closed before Skulker turned to the Demi in amuse.

"Hey! You're helping too!" But Skulker got a double boot kick to the face as he recoiled before musing again. "That's odd... No witty banter?"

"Not in the mood!" Danny answered with rage in his voice. "All I want to know is what you've done with Jazz!"

"I've done nothing with your sister, Ghost Child. Skulker hunts what he hunts, nothing more, nothing less!" He beamed as he lifted up the rod in hand. "Which is why I'm bringing this to my employer!" He then used it to zap Danny, stunning him for a containment unit to capture him and Skulker lifting it up as he continued. "You'll be a gift."

Meanwhile, Jazz walked through the halls of the castle in search of what she could further learn about her 'uncle', looking around before peering into the study, Vlad standing by the fireplace before tilting the right-most football statue, a hidden stairway revealed before he stepped on through, Jazz beaming before she glanced about before she rushed in, looking once more before she spotted the laptop and exclaimed her glee before she went ninja and landed in the chair before she started to work on piecing out the things that Skulker had stolen, the first step to making it better with Danny is actually using the real name, she thought hers were cooler.

"So... what do we have in here about nanobots and an ecto-converter?" She press enter and got photos of Maddie, the caption of 'delete later' there, but Jazz couldn't believe it as she exclaimed. "Oh, gross!" She shut the laptop in disbelief. "I will never be able to unsee this!" The click made her gasp as the fireplace reopened and she quickly grabbed the yearbook on the shelf, her first thought being that she was looking through the yearbook when the better was to just take it and read it elsewhere.

Vlad dusted himself off before noticing Jazz reading the yearbook, both confused and a bit upset that she was in the private study as he walked over and inquired. "Jazz, what are you doing in my private study?"

"Private? Why would you have a private study from someone you consider a daughter?" She gasped as she took in the photo of the friends, younger Vlad was quite a interesting guy. "Oh, and you were such a looker in college!" Vlad took behind as he peered at the same before she spoke.

"Indeed, though the skunk hair was a bit out there for me, besides Maddie had her heart out for Jack most of the time, though I can't deny those brief moments, it really felt different than most." They eased up as they hugged, Jazz eyeing the passage as it closed and later that night, she took to it, trying too hard to be in the quiet as she opened the passage and headed down. She gasped to the layout of the lab before she spotted something else.

"Dad's Ecto-Skeleton?" She walked over to it before glancing to the side as she found the other things taken, Skulker the one who took them, so why would they be here. "The Ecto-Converter and the Bloodstream Nanobots!?" She gasped as she exclaimed. "I was right!" She paused before she pondered it more. "But... no, I am not right, I thought they were being used to make a super weapon, why would all three be here in the first place?" She hummed and pondered it a bit more than expected as she continued. But Vlad found her and she didn't try to deny that she was curious about it and he admitted to keeping it a secret before the Ghost Portal activated and Skulker walked through with box and rod in hand as Vlad kept his cool, just a bad timing moment as Skulker spoke.

"Sorry to interrupt, I brought you the final piece of your 'superweapon'." Skulker tossed the rod to Vlad and he smiled as Skulker continued. "This one's on the house." He dropped the box and kicked it across the floor to the pair before Danny got back up and questioned.

"Jazz?"

"Danny?"

"What are you doing!?" Both inquired to the other in confusion as Vlad spoke.

"Well, that's a funny thing to see, neither of you went out to find the other fully and yet, here you both are, face to face in a dangerous place." He sighed dramatic as he spoke. "I'm torn! I love the idea that you've left your father for me, yet I'm suspicious of your motives now. Only one thing to do, I guess."

"Let us both go and let the courts figure it out?" Jazz asked as Danny beamed the same as Vlad just continued.

"Oh close." Soon, they were taken out to the football fiend behind the castle and Vlad turned on the lights to Danny still trapped and Jazz in the Ecto-Skeleton as she turned her head to the announcer's booth and asked.

"Uncle Vlad, is this necessary?" The big screen turned on as Vlad spoke with an evil glint.

"Why, Jasmine, you didn't expect me to take you in as my own without first testing your loyalty." Jazz blinked in confusion before Vlad continued. "I've improved Jack's Ecto-Skeleton using the lightning rod and Ecto-Converter as an endless power source. Meanwhile, the nanobots will control your breathing and heart rate."

"So the suit won't waste me?"

"No, so I can if you betray me! But that needn't happen, as long as you behave like a good, little adopted daughter to me." Danny exclaimed as part of the scheme.

"Let her go, Vlad! She's clearly just some clueless know-it-all who got in way over her head!" Jazz glared back as she spoke back to him.

"You're toast!"

"Oh yeah? You and what Toaster?" Danny sassed back as Vlad called out.

"And that's my que!" He pressed a button the fiendish remote in hand before the mix of ecto-converter and rod kicked into high gear while the box popped open as Danny spoke.

"Okay, on my signal, run!"

"You're not the boss of me! I'll run when I feel like it!" Both exclaimed fine before making a run for it, the Ecto-Skeleton outpacing Danny as Jazz spoke. "Back to being the faster one!" She bolted past as Danny took flight.

"That suit is really powerful, how the heck did Dad and Mom make it so in the first place?" He followed before Jazz slammed into something in mid air and Danny came to a jerking halt, still hitting the barrier, but with less damage as both were flung back and Danny peered up to Vlad's face as he exclaimed.

"I fixed the ghost shield too, it works on ghosts AND humans! You kids have fun!" The screen went dark as both looked at each other and got up before circling one another as Danny tried to make a plan.

"We're gonna have to fight, but we gonna need to make it look convin-" Anymore was cut off as Jazz uppercut Danny across the field and into the shield before he fell back down as Jazz spoke up.

"That's for humiliating me in front of the entire school!"

"Okay! I deserve that! And I'm sorry!" Danny spoke as he pulled himself back together as he walked over to the suit. "You were just trying to help, but please, just follow my lead!" Jazz punched again, launching Danny into the upper portion before winding up and punching him across to the other side before bolting to it, he freewheeling in the air before she went for the punch, it made contact with Danny's palm as Jazz grimaced before Danny slammed his other hand into the suit and made it go intangible before plunging her into the field, trapping her before he made to rant. "Will you...!" He stopped before he asked. "We were already fighting to make it convincing, weren't we?"

"Duh! You did want me to make it convincing." Danny blinked before he smiled.

"Well then, let's test out the Ecto-Skeleton's range, shall we?" Jazz winked before she ripped through the field and grabbed Danny, he rolled in the grip to then slam the suit into the ground before she rolled away, Vlad clapping at the fight going on as Danny and Skeleton found on equal grounds. "That thing is really enhancing the human's natural reflexes and skills, yeah?"

"Oh yeah, a real shame that it only took a lightning rod, an Ecto-Converter, and nanobots to make it actually usable in the long-term." Jazz answered as both exchanged blows, both grinning before Danny was sent flying and he charged his blasts.

"The Ecto-Skeleton can be affected by ghost powers just the same, but how well can it take some ecto energy blasts?" He fired and Jazz dodged before getting pummeled with a few and Jazz huffed.

"Man, this thing can really take a punch!"

"If so, then put your guard up!" Danny answered as he focused and Jazz flung her arms up before the ecto beam blasted, the Skeleton getting pushed back before Danny tired and he exclaimed. "Son of Bearbert...!" Jazz gasped before she exclaimed.

"Never take Bearbert's name in vain, come here!" Danny backpedaled as Jazz closed the gap and snatched Danny, lifting him high before he exclaimed in exhaust and fake defeat.

"Jazz, no! Don't! Please!" She hurled him into the shield and he fell, not getting back up as Jazz questioned in leaning in.

"Danny?" She noticed the popped eye before back as she played it and exclaimed. "Oh no, what have I done! Can you ever forgive me!?" Vlad came out as he spoke.

"Of course, I forgive you, Jasmine, and you too, Daniel." Danny popped his eyes open and sighed.

"Ah man..."

"Not to worry." Vlad answered as he pressed a button the the shield dropped and the power source shut down as he explained. "Now, I believe this now belongs to you." He handed the remote to Danny as Jazz questioned.

"So, that's it, we can go home now?"

"Oh, I have no reason to keep you here any longer, I just hope that you had a good time here."

"Actually, yeah, I had fun."

"Speak for yourself." Danny mused as he rolled his eyes. "I jumped the gun on Skulker because I believed that you went after him."

"Well, I could have, but I wanted to know more about what the objects were being used for, I jumped the gun in thinking that it was for a super weapon." Vlad chuckled as he answered.

"Considering the Skeleton, that IS a super weapon, in both the right and wrong hands." He spoke as he directed his hand to the castle. "Now, I believe you both have an Specter Speeder to take." Both nodded as Danny lifted Jazz out and both hugged Vlad to his shock and surprise, Jazz kissing his cheek as both thanked him.

"Thanks for looking after Jazz for a bit."

"Thanks for letting me stay over for a while, Uncle."

"I... I... Oh, cheese logs, I have truly become the uncle here, this is so out-of-place for me!" Both laughed before they took the Specter Speeder, The Ecto-Skeleton in the back as Jazz spoke.

"I messed up, didn't I?"

"Actually, I messed up." Danny answered as he explained himself. "I was so busy being angry at you, I... couldn't see that you really can help."

"But, just because I can, doesn't mean I should. Ghost Fighting's your thing, Danny, I'll always be there for you, just in different ways." Danny smiled as he leaned on her in thanks.

"Consider yourself reinstated into Team Phantom." Jazz blinked before she asked.

"So what about the Nanobots?"

"I know a guy..."

* * *

Valerie helped oversee the complete extraction of the Bloodstream Nanobots and took them off Cedric's hands as he spoke up with wiping his hands. "Consider yourself nanobot-free and normal big sister again, Jasmine."

"Thanks, Cedric, but what about Ghost-X, I mean Skulker?"

"Topaz and Talia are handling him just fine, in fact, I am expecting them..." The door to the lab opened and Topaz and Talia returned as Cedric chuckled. "Right on que, ladies."

"Yeah, he was not so tough, the guy could take a few rounds with me as a pure ghost, he lasted one round with me."

"Phrasing, Lain." Talia chuckled as Topaz stuck her tongue out before both came over and Talia spoke. "So, Cedric, you said that you had some place to show the Team?"

"Oh, yes, follow me..." That did do so as they soon entered the underground of Amity Park, the sewer system disgusting, but it was blocked out with oxygen masks before they arrived to an abandon section of it, located on the south side of Amity before Cedric rested a hand on the brick and it glowed with recognizance and it opened up like a series of blast doors before they headed in, it closing behind them before Cedric extended his arms to the base. "Welcome to Firebase Phive." It was huge, larger than the Fenton Lab as the party took it all in, rooms across the place, a large lobby, and even a hanger in the back as Cedric explained with the whole team following behind him.

"I worked to the bone to get this place up and running, depending on a series of ecto-generators that absorb the excess ambient ecto-energy from both the sent ecto-filtrator supply and from the very air of Amity, this base can go for years with Pariah's assault." He showed off the rooms as the team look like kids in a candy shop. "We have the armory where all of the stored weapons and defenses are kept for both training, missions, and emergencies, the sleeping quarters for members who would like to keep inside the base on stand-by, the greenhouse, using some of that ecto energy in being converted into solar radiation, tested it out and it is completely harmless to both humans, animals, and plants." Valerie was on a spazz as she bounced in place in glee, the trio surprised by her excitement as Cedric continued.

"We also have the lab, but that is for the members authorized to check it out, and lastly..." The blast doors opened to... the wide, empty space except for the mech at the side. "This is the hanger, this will be where the vehicles and crafts will be stored, sadly, the only thing you will find here is this..." He tapped on the metal hide. "The Iron Martyr, a light assault mech built to both resist the extreme changes in the Ghost Zone and providing a safe environment to operate in when working in deep space, I did my work and am quite thorough about it."

"Geez, Brainiac..." Topaz chuckled as she rubbed her head in disbelief. "I knew you were nuts, but this whole thing is crazy."

"You don't know the half of it." Cedric answered as he leaned on the mech. "I wanted to ensure that we could stand against any hostile attacks, but Pariah's attack was something REALLY unexpected, I also wanted to show this to the team when the C.A.T. happened on a notion, but I didn't get to, a delay on my part." He opened his eyes again as he spoke with a smile. "So... we have some free time, anyone want to check out and test themselves in the armory?" Honestly, it was a full military base down below and no one really questioned it right now as Cedric was somehow that guy who had money to burn, tech to test, and connections out of the state to get...


	31. S2 - The Fright Before Christmas

Twas the season of joy and cheer as Christmas was soon to be as all of Amity Park cheered and smiled, even the goth of Sam was in full cheer as she greeted and beamed. "Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy Hanukkah!" While not as seen on many that passed her in the Amity Park Mall, Sam still shared her joyful features to all in there as she soon greeted Mikey, in a festive manner. "Merry Christmas, Mikey." The change was apparent as Mikey yelped in surprise.

"**You**?! Are being cheery?!" He soon yelped in terror in hunching over. "IT'S A TRAP!" Flinging his arms high in the air, Mikey ran in screaming out of the mall. "*IT'S A TRA-A-A-AP*!" Sam looked puzzled as Danny and Tucker soon arrived, one crossed while the other was in disbelief before the normally-dour goth asked.

"What's with him?" Danny answered as he was the one crossed.

"What's with *you*?" Tucker spoke up as he assured Danny.

"Aw, perk up, Danny." His eyes opened back up as he continued. "I know you're in your annual holiday funk, but this is the one time of year Sam *isn't* instantly dour." This could be seen with her greeting another with holiday cheer.

"Have a kickin' Kwanzaa!" The man looked confused to the nervous look Sam had about that one as Tucker leaned over to his best friend.

"And the one time of the year I can bust out the Foley Mistletoe Beret!" He just swapped hats with one with a bobbing piece of mistletoe, which he tried to use on a attractive lady, only to get dog on the mouth and still think it was her from the taste of liver. Danny, however, didn't accept it as his rage bubbled before he shouted, only his friends hearing that.

"*I HATE THE HOLIDAYS*!" Sam asked the big question as to Danny's enraged mood.

"I don't get it!" She lifted her arms in question as she continued. "How can anybody hate this time of year? I don't even celebrate it and I love it!" Sam beamed before Tucker leaned over in explaining.

"That's right! You don't know about 'The Fight'."

"'The Fight'?" To that, Tucker glanced down the mall to where children would sit on a Santa lap and tell what they want for Christmas, except there were a pair of adults bickering about the time-old question of Santa Claus being real or fake. Maddie the 'oppression' while Jack was the 'defendant'.

"Santa Claus is a ho-ho-hoax!"

"Heretic!" They closed the gap on the mall Santa as Jack returned volley. "Santa's real as real can be!" Jack stood his ground as he called out to the kids and parents with megaphone in hand. "Don't listen to her, kids. Santa's coming tonight in his sleigh full of goodies! Keep the ho-ho-hope alive!" The confusion was real as Maddie attacked the very notion with science.

"Flying at *that* altitude? In the open? At *that* speed?" She pulled out a megaphone as well as she spoke into it. "He'd pass out! Or burn to a crisp from friction!" This was quite the spectacle that the Fentons were making as Maddie continued her rant. "It's scientifically impossible!" Danny growled as he spoke to his friends.

"If you need me, I'll be in the Ghost Zone, getting rid of some frustration." He headed off before bumping into Cedric, yelping as he got shocked. "Ow, watch it!"

"Danny?" Cedric paused with Talia behind him as he asked. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like, I am going into the Ghost Zone to get rid of some frustration." He lifted up the bag of Christmas goods and continued. "Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get going."

"Come on, Baby-pop." Danny turned to Topaz... looking too attractive for her own good in a Santa costume, posing with a mischief glint in her eye, but it slipped away as she joined the three. "You can come with us, we are just going to be celebrating Christmas in the base, it's quieter there, or do you hate Christmas altogether?" Danny raised two fingers as he spoke to her.

"When I was a baby, my parents were so into their argument of Santa that they left me to be peed on by a dog, age four saw the turkey come to life and Jazz beating it, but my parents just had their fight about that 'jolly old elf'."

"Yikes..." Topaz mused as she rubbed her neck. "Sorry I asked." That got Danny as he spoke.

"No, no, it's not your fault, it's just... my parents have been having this fight for fourteen years, maybe longer with Jazz, and that soured my mood for Christmas." Topaz nodded as she spoke with hugging him.

"It's okay, but be mindful, the Ghost Zone has a strict policy on ghosts who break the Truce."

"The... Truce?" Danny asked as Talia joined in, Topaz releasing as they looked at him.

"Yes, the Christmas Truce, created by the ancient ghosts who defeated Pariah Dark, making it a holiday in the Realms and one day when all ghosts agree to a ceasefire, peace in our world altogether, Daniel. We cannot attack each other on that day, nor have any scheme surpass that day, it is a sacred day for all of us."

"So... no argument?"

"No."

"No dogs likely to pee on me?"

"None whatsoever."

"And no food trying to kill me?"

"Walker's attempt of a fruitcake is likely the only thing to try and kill you, but it would be a death by law and order." Danny glanced about before he huffed.

"Thanks, but I need to blow off some steam, my head is too puffed out." Cedric nodded and extended a hand, Danny taking it before he got zapped again and yelped. "Ow! Cedric!"

"Oops!" Cedric lightly undid his coat to show the belt straps across his body. "This is the Specter Harness, an upgrade from the Specter Deflector; With this, I was hoping to keep to the tradition and keep any ghost from taking advantage of me during this Christmas time, I was trying to make several so that we would all be safe, but the right voltage to wear it for Demis is still up there." Danny blinked before he headed out.

"Alright then... that's cool..." He took flight, his rage coming back as he soon headed into the Zone...

* * *

The Ghost Zone was quiet for the upcoming festivities, but in a city hall structure, a ghost typed out the end of something as he spoke, a long purple coat and gray scarf adorning him with his black hair and pointed ears. "'Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good fright." He beamed as his green eyes took it in and focused behind his glasses. "Ooh, oh that's good." He ripped out the paper from the keyboard before him and held it up proudly. "And it's *done*! My first Christmas poem ever. *Complete*!" He placed in the back of an open book before it closed, binding itself closed and the ghost hugging the complete book, but it was not meant to be as a Santa doll erupted to an ectoblast destroying it.

"You better watch out!" Danny ranted as he pulled out another toy and tossed it into the Ghost Zone. "You better not cry!" He blasted the ornament he tossed before he released the bag and ranted once more in exasperation. "Santa! No Santa! Santa! No Santa!" He lunged for the bag and tossed out all of its goods into the Zone as he exclaimed. "*Every year*!" He charged his blasts and fired. "*And I've had it*!" He spun in firing it off, hitting his targets perfectly, but one toy slipped to an odd building, the emerging ghost grinning with his book before an elf toy hit the cover and was followed by an ectoblast, destroying both in a burst to the ghost's surprise. "*Oops*!" Danny spoke as he floated over to the now-angry ghost as he apologized. "Sorry, man! It was a total accident!" But the ghost ranted in dismay as he scooped up a handful of the shreds as he exclaimed.

"'Oops'? '*Oops*'?!" He looked up as he continued. "Do you know have any idea what you've done?!"

"Well, not really, uh, hence the 'accident' part."

"You destroyed my greatest work! And that was my only copy!" An unblasted page floated down as Danny took it and read it out.

"'The Fright Before Christmas'? I destroyed a Christmas poem?" Danny thought about it before he spoke. "That's not good, I wanted to vent out my own anger at Christmas, not someone else's."

"*WHAT*?!" Danny huffed as he explained it out.

"Dude, I am *sick* of Christmas! I came to the Ghost Zone to get away from it!" He gestured to himself with a clenched hand as he continued. "I might not have meant to destroy your latest book,-" He answered as he just rolled the paper up and held it like a tube. "-but that doesn't mean I'm not remorseful about it." The tube was stored on Danny's person as the ghost ranted in disbelief.

"Scornful child! Scrooge-like urchin!" The ghost shouted before taking flight, a aura forming around him before he spiraled in violet energy as Danny asked, now considered as to who he just ticked off, right before Christmas.

"Aaaand, you are…?" The violet energy fade into a cloud around the ghost before solidifying as keyboards and screens before exclaiming.

"The Ghostwriter!" He gestured to the keyboards as he continued. "Every word I type on this keyboard becomes real!" Danny knew that he stepped into the wrong conflict as Ghostwriter continued. "And since you destroyed my Christmas poem, intentional or not..." He smiled for revenge as he continued. "You shall become my *new* Christmas poem!" He blasted Danny as he disappeared to Ghostwriter typing away to the new poem he would be making as a green and red book formed with the title being called 'The Fright before Christmas 2' and that is where the story truly starts with the Ghostwriter making everything the way he intended...

* * *

"On the day before Christmas in Amity Park," It went to Amity Park's mall as Danny blinked as he could have sworn, he starting to hear the voice as he glanced about. "Almost all there were cheery, yet one soul was dark." Danny finally spoke as he realized what just happened.

"Hey, that voice! It's that ghost! Whose book I destroyed!" He paused as he could tell that he was not just back in Amity, he was trapped in a new book to read. "Wait, I'm trapped in his poem? Now I'm really annoyed!" All he could do is speak in rhythm and either wait and understand what was happening or find someone who could help him out. The Ghostwriter himself typed the story out in rhythm as well as he spoke in time.

"Danny Fenton hates Christmas. He hates it a lot." Danny walked with the cheery Sam and Tucker as the Writer continued. "Which is why I've inserted the boy in this plot. He'll go-" Danny gasped as he spotted the overhead ceiling showing the Writer's visage. "-through this tale till the story is ended." He dissipated into purple smoke as Danny called out, unsure if anyone understood him.

"But you can't *make* me rhyme! That would make it too much, on how depending!" Whatever Sam was going to say was lost in greeting as Danny facepalmed on how he just rhythm himself as the Ghostwriter spoke.

"You will be quite surprised what I can and can't do." Danny looked to find where the Writer was speaking from before he paused in front of a window as the Ghost writer continued, Danny turning to the mirror on the other side of the glass as the Ghostwriter appeared in it. "But I'll leave you your freedom, so I can teach you." He looked into the mirror as the Ghost writer continued. "When you lash out at others, there's enmity earned. You're *stuck* in this poem till your lesson is learned." Danny stared as the mirror faded to himself reflected back before he sighed before Tucker spoke up.

"Who're you talking to, Danny?"

"Said Tucker, confused." Danny answered as best as he could, trying to rhythm in a gentle tone, on the fault he brought.

"Some passionate Ghostwriter. We're all just a muse!" He continued to explain, in hoping that ti was catch on. "I blew up his story without thought or chance-"

"No hint of remorse, except in a glance." The Ghostwriter spoke, confused as he expected a bitter heart, not a learning soul as Danny continued.

"-Now he's writing a new one,-" Danny answered in raising his arms forward to his friends. "-we're trapped in by force or fact!" But Sam and Tucker didn't believe that as the Ghostwriter dedicated their actions then.

"But Tucker and Sam merely shrugged in confusion, completely convinced of my ghostly illusion by act." Danny's brows fell from the simple 'crazy' gesture' Sam made, but it proves a fact, that he is the only one to understand. So he just headed off as Sam and Tucker followed, Cedric noticing before Sam questioned.

"Has he always been moody and glum in December?"

"A big, *whiny* Scrooge, long as I can remember." Tucker told the story of what happened to Danny, but one other in the book questioned it aloud, Danny's eyes widening in glee at the sound of his voice.

"Why is there rhyming going on around here?" Danny quickly bolted for the friend and gripped his hands, despite the shock as he pleaded to him.

"Oh, thank you so much, you can hear him clear!?" Cedric raised a brow as the Ghostwriter tried to right the story, but every attempt to write Cedric out was in vain as the young man spoke, his Harness the thing keeping him free.

"I can only assume that you are now in a poem?"

"What else could it be, you think me a golem?" Cedric raised his brow as he was released by Danny and hummed in question before he asked, the Writer still stuck, but still proceeding.

"If you destroyed his poem, then I understand your struggle."

"Please, I need your help, or would Talia want to snuggle?" Cedric glanced to the rhyme before gave it a fifty-fifty as he spoke.

"I cannot help as I have other places to be, but I will look into it for you."

"Okay, I just don't want to rhyme till I'm blue." Danny answered as Cedric nodded and headed off as he waved goodbye.

"Just know, Daniel, that you can choose to stay or go, the fight doesn't need to involve you at all."

Danny hummed before he spoke back in rhyming. "That's a good plan for next year, I would actually, for once, want to go to Montreal." Cedric looked surprised before snorting and laughing as he left, the rhyme finally getting him as Danny breathed easy before he turned to his folks still having their fight, frowning to them as Maddie exclaimed.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again! A sled cannot travel the globe at mach 10!" Ghostwriter voiced the change as he felt that this 'Cedric' was going to be a problem, but focused on Danny for now.

"But Jack Fenton bellowed-"

"You're wrong! Wrong, you hear!"

"And never once thought he'd be spooking the deer." Ghostwriter continued as he possessed the inflatable Santa in the reindeer pen. "And just because this would annoy him the most, I decided to make every reindeer a ghost!" He blasted the reindeer and turning them into worse as the mall flew into a panic as Ghostwriter continued. "On Spooky, On Specter, On Death Hoof, On Thrasher! On Maimer, And Vicious, Blood Antlers, And Slasher!" Danny questioned why the reindeer and though not many believed, he still had a job to do as he rhymed away from his catch phrase.

"Time to roast!"

"Came his unfamiliar cry." Danny took flight from behind a tree as Phantom as Writer continued, in Danny's movement of stopping the rampaging ghost reindeer. "Danny Phantom did fly. Confronting the reindeer with powers quite ghostly. Protecting the last minute shoppers, well, mostly." Danny gave chase to stop the reindeer, but they were much stronger than expected, the idea that the Writer's power was influencing the story making it clear that he didn't want Danny to learn, he wanted Danny to suffer as the reindeer ghosts tore through the mall, even when one was lassoed and dragged Danny along for the ride before soon, he was left in a pile of spool as the Ghostwriters continued his verse as the reindeer flew away. "And the reindeer escaped, having torn up the mall." Danny frowned with a bow on his head as he understood the end of it here. ""Leaving Danny, yes Danny, the blame for it all." He huffed in removing the bow, heading out to the protest of many as it was clear that he was going to be unwelcome, ousted first before any real work was done. He flew high in the sky before he stopped on a glass skylight and asked, as if to get a reply from the Writer himself.

"Tell me now, Ghostwriter, are you sure that there is no other way?" As if on que, the Writer's face appeared in the glass as he spoke back.

"Not until you learn your lesson within one day."

"But why can I not do it otherwise, Writer, I am no scrooge, just a kid with misfortune on Christmas day."

"Be it yes or be it no, your lesson has not been learned, destroy my poem is your first action of spite, your second will be undiscerned." Danny huffed as he sat down and pulled out the page, the title looking back at him as he spoke once more.

"All I wanted to do was keep away and be myself, so why must I face your punishment and make a name for oneself?"

"Because you have done little in caring, so this lesson is still you despairing." Ghostwriter didn't know why, but the fact that Danny Phantom was not striking out now was something else he was expecting.

"What of the Christmas Truce, will it hold up to this ruse?" Ghostwriter defended himself as he exclaimed.

"Your attack was first, I have nothing to expect the worst. Say you learn, but you have a long way to earn." Danny huffed before he rolled up the parchment again and headed out as the Ghostwriter paused, expecting more of a fight, but he focused once more as he typed out the story as night soon fell over Amity Park. "But Danny's grim yuletide was only beginning. And later that night, as his patience was thinning-" The pair of Danny and Jazz had presents on their laps before Jack somehow tumbled down the chimney as he exclaimed.

"See? A fat man *can* fit down the chimney! Here's proof!" It would have been humorous, if it weren't for the book and the fight ongoing between the parents as Maddie exclaimed with arms to hips.

"That still won't explain how he gets on the roof!" Danny hummed in displeasure before he perked up as the Writer's voice was close now.

"And young Fenton sat there, just steaming and fuming,-" He stood up and checked the window to the snowman in the distance. "-his blood pressure rising, his anger consuming." The face of the snowing construct changed to the Writers as Danny sighed and spoke.

"I can't keep this up!"

"Danny said to the writer." Danny sat back down as he spoke back, a frown on his face form this whole thing.

"There's no poem if I'm silent!" However, Danny was just one character in the story as Jazz popped over to ask Danny for aid.

"Can't you make dad not fight her?" He groaned as he didn't realize that the others were unknowing players in this play as the snowman Writer plowed over to the window.

"You think this is over? It's barely begun!" Danny glanced to the snowman as the Writer continued on. "This all doesn't end till the lesson is done!" He faced the snowman and questioned as he rhythm along.

"And you think that I'll learn it? You think you're that tough?" The argument erupted once more as Jack and Maddie feuded.

"He exists!"

"No, he doesn't!"

"And Dan screamed-" Danny known his first word, but he continued it.

"Enough is enough!" The snowman shifted to only an evil grin as Danny lectured both his folks. "I'm sick of your fighting, can you please let this *die*?!" He continued on as both looked in sorrow. "You've ruined each Christmas! Each Christmas and I can't take anymore of this war,-" He stomped over to the door as he continued, swinging open as he continued his lecture, hoping that it will get through. "-am I clear? Fourteen years is enough!" He grabbed and finished as he closed it shut. "I am *so* out of here!" The door slammed as Maddie questioned, not understanding the problem at hand.

"Hm, what got into him?"

"He takes after his mother." Maddie looked insulted while Jazz gave her concern to the slightly soured Demi.

"Can't blame you for losing your cool, little brother." Danny took off as Jazz continued her words. "Go ahead, clear your head, and I think you'll be fine." Yet, he going as Phantom only drew more attention as the presents of all started to gather and follow, he looking back in confusion to the gifts flying after him, blinking as Jazz saw the same and jumped to exclaim. "But taking our presents is crossing the line!" He watched as more and more presents came from chimneys a plenty form across the streets and from the houses as he exclaimed to the moon, the only reflection that the Writer could use high above.

"Now you're ripping off gifts? What is that supposed to do?" The moon did don the Writer's face, no one else seeing it as well as the ghost did speak.

"A: Make a huge scene, and B: Blame it on you." Danny asked again as he looked to the moon, despite the people exclaiming down below.

"Is that fair, to make me the villain, I don't want to be rising like Bob Dylan."

"You say onto a mirror of your sins, I will not let you win." Danny just gestured in disbelief as he spoke.

"My victory is at the cost of their happiness, please, stop this conflict as it is needless!" Anymore was lost as Danny got shot, hair frazzled as Maddie exclaimed in getting through to get her shot, the story making them heedless that he was him.

"You've ruined our night!"

"Drink some anti-ghost tonic!" Danny dodged with his mouth popping open and letting the blast slipped past before it reformed and he questioned.

"Wait, I ruined *their* night? How's that for ironic?" He took off away and listened as the Writer spoke in story.

"So Danny did soar through the crisp evening-" Danny called out with fist up in the air.

"Look!" He extended out his limbs as he inquired to the dim below. "What's a guy gotta do to get out of this book?" He relaxed in thought as the Writer continued.

"And then Danny thought-" Danny smiled as he spoke.

"Wait, my problem is clear!" He float down to the row of Christmas decorations below. "This poem's about Christmas which is here, here, and here!" He came down to the Manson's door of their small manor. "This curse will stay on me from my town to Rome, but he can't Christmas me in a non-Christmas home!" He paused before he shook his head, speaking again as he instead took a stroll with hands in his pockets as Fenton again. "No, this is centered on me as the main foe, I would just drag her down into the undertow." He continued on his way as he mused to the white around him. "If I were to truly die in this story, would I be in a free category?" The window to his side glowed as the Ghostwriter scowled from it.

"You will do no such thing, that would be making this unable to sing!"

"Still, you have turned the town around and upside down..." Danny spoke to the reflection as he continued. "This is not a time to smile, but a time to frown."

"You will not take that step one bit, Danny Phantom! I control the story and here I am both tragedy and sanctum!" Danny shrugged as he replied back once more, the cold not bothering him.

"Then lift your spell and talk to me true, let us speak and make it without issue!" The Ghostwriter huffed before he shook his head and the next was a tragic tale as he was blamed once more, his friends turning their backs on him for defending himself against killer toys and a monster nutcracker and destroying the trees that came to pine. Truly, he was the bane of all and there was little he could do as he took to the Zone, in hope of clearing this up...

* * *

The ghost shield deployed, Danny looked inward before he headed down and through the portal as the Ghostwriter sung before he shouted in counter. "Give it up! You can't hide." He charged for the building where the Writer sat as he continued in rhyme "I know just where to find you." But the Writer believed he had won, turning back to his keyboard to get it across.

"But I'm still in control. Allow them to remind you." Where first instinct was to blast, Danny just soared as a different set of doors formed before him and he pushed them open before walking in as he inquired.

"'Them'?"

"Danny asked. Then he shuddered and trembled." Danny did neither as he took in the room before him, both foes and friends gathered there as they stared back at him as the Writer spoke again. "The door had brought him where all his foes were assembled." Foes was a strong word to use as Skulker beamed to Danny's approach.

"We've been waiting for you."

"Skulker said with a grin."

"Now our holiday party can finally begin!" All of it changed to lights and festive mood as Danny was in awe of the whole thing as Cup soon held a cup, Topaz holding a cooked fowl in ghost form, and all in cheer as Skulker rejoiced with cup held high.

"Eat, drink, and be merry!"

"Have some warm Christmas goose!" Indeed, all was cheery which was a surprise, if Danny did not know beforehand long as the Box Ghost answered to him.

"For surely you know of our annual truce." Danny smiled as he versed back to the ghost.

"I have heard, but never seen prior, this will be fun, but where is the friar?" Danny joked as the ghosts laughed just the same as the Ghostwriter pounded a fist and exclaimed.

"The truce? It's still holding?" He glanced down as he exclaimed. "I thought they'd dispend it!" He looked worried as he continued. "To beat on their foe-"

"Oh, this truce, we defend it! We don't fight on Christmas." Skulker answered as the others joined in.

"One day of tranquility!" Bertrand answered with raised finger as Spectra took to it as well in explanation.

"Come sundown tomorrow…" Spectra mused before most of them glared to the Demi hero.

"We resume all hostility!" Danny paused before he asked.

"Every ghost holds this truce?" Skulker answered.

"It's a fact!"

"It's a rule." Walker answered as Danny spoke next.

"Well, the Ghostwriter broke it!" They looked among themselves before Topaz huffed in annoyance.

"That is really uncool!" Danny walked past the tree and to the window as the ghost looked at him still.

"I'm trapped in his story! The guy's off his nut!" He cleared his throat in explaining once more, pulling out the paper that belonged. "But I should apologize, I wouldn't be in this mess if I had shown more exercise." Topaz came over as she joined in looking at the page.

"You are our foe, that's a given, but you understand your own faults, a motive driven."

"You give us freedom and time, sometimes even confine." Kitty answered in joining as Johnny joined as well.

"We have not seen eye to eye, but you always kept your eye to the sky!" Danny nodded as he looked at the page before he spoke again.

"Despite Ghostwriter's crime, I feel that he has more than fallen from his prime." The ghosts looked at him as he continued. "He made one copy of his latest book, but he is not a crook by the look."

"He still broke the law."

"And that could be the last straw." Danny answered to Walker's judgement as he continued. "But first, I want to be sure, I had to, so he must also endure." They nodded before taking off as the Ghostwriter spoke in panic to the party coming.

"Uh oh. The ghosts changed their-" The doors were busted down as the ghost came in as the Writer exclaimed. "*Crud*!" He quickly tried to turn the tides to his favor. "I have *got* to type faster!" Danny exclaimed as he pointed at the Writer.

"It's over, you hack!" But the Writer was not done.

"I don't think so, young master." Just as quickly, the truce devolved before someone threw an orange into Walker's face and the Ghost Writer tried to use it. "Someone thought quickly and picked up an orange... They threw it at Walker who..." It tampered off as he realized a critical flaw. "Oh, *CRUD*! Nothing rhymes with orange!" Just as quickly, the pink aura that devolved the ghosts faded away and their fight came to an end as Danny wailed on the Writer, launching him to two of the warden's guards before Danny flew over with power in hand.

"Roses are red, Violets are blue." He turned to blast the keyboards as he continued to verse. "Once these fry, I'm guessing this crazy poem is... through?" He still rhymed before he rubbed his temples and shook his head as the guards lifted the Writer up as he spoke.

"Danny screamed."

"I'm still talking in rhyme!" He sighed as the Ghostwriter continued his spiel.

"I would have forewarned you if given the time." Danny shook his head as the Writer continued. "There are two ways to finish this poem, just two. I'd tap out the end, but I can't, thanks to you!" Both Walker and Skulker escorted him out as he just continued his lecture. "So now you'll guide this story as the ghost who hates Christmas. Think you can do it, all mopey and listless?" Danny picked up a fragment of the keyboard as the Ghostwriter continued in being placed in a Ghost Zone SWAT van. "You think this ends here? You're about to get burned! This story's not done till the lesson is learned!" He laughed out as the doors closed and he was driven away, the defeat on Danny's face as the others gathered around him before he spoke.

"I did this to myself, now I have to fix it by oneself."

"You don't need to do it alone..."

"I know, but I need to, at least, atone." With that, he took flight, heading back to Amity back, where the curse followed him into the cold, the aura of the Writer gone, but still it was his own fault as he mused inward.

"With the keyboard all busted, the curse takes its toll. The story continues,-" The lights fizzled down and died as he looked to the now-blacked-out house before moving on, his presence a sheer show of it at its worse. "-but I've no control." By every house, the lights shut off and looking through a pane, he could see his old friend, sitting with no Christmas meat in front of him, making it worse as he walked away without a coat, but he was not alone for long as the friend got up and spotted his moping friend and, just as quickly, sent a message to the other of the three before Danny walked past the destroyed toys and halted in front of the wrecked trees, hand to his face as some fell and died and he looked ashamed as he did all this. The moment didn't last as his friends arrived, Sam draping a coat onto his shoulders as Tucker asked with sitting next to the miserable Danny.

"Dude, like, it's Christmas. So why are you here?" Sam joined in as she asked the same.

"Outside, with no friends or family near?" Danny looked forward to the trees and admitted his error.

"It's my fault." He said with hand covering his face in shame once more. "All my fault what happened tonight." Heedless to his gaze, the gifts ahead started to come alive with energy as Danny moaned to himself. "I spoke out in anger and acted in spite." He continued as more floated in the air. "I started this all when I picked that first fight." They looked forward as Danny continued in wishing. "But I'd give all I have to set everything right." His eyes popped as the crushed presents, now in the air, suddenly spun and were fixed back up as the coat on Danny was pulled on fully in confusion as more filled the sky as Sam exclaimed with them standing up.

"The gifts? They're not damaged?" They flew high to their confusion as Tucker joined in pondering.

"They're flying through the air!" They flew in great numbers as Danny mused to himself in that pondering confusion.

"Back where they came from? But who would-?" A single shout rang out from behind them, a familiar one.

"*Beware*!" Danny's sense went off, but he only changed into Phantom as part of his own training, gasping to the number of ghosts behind them as the Box Ghost exclaimed in readiness. "The Box Ghost shall conquer this holiday doom!" The Lunch Lady joined in as she explained with raising her hands.

"We just couldn't leave you to suffer in gloom!" Skulker showcased a new weapon as he exclaimed.

"Tomorrow, you'll see what this baby can do!" But it went away as he smiled. "But *all* ghosts share the truce, even half-ghosts, like you." What followed as a true clean up, though Danny couldn't have sworn her had spotted the Exorcist there as well, but that was impossible, he said he had other places to be and he certainly wouldn't have the time to just use the Fenton Portal to sneak into the Ghost Zone to find out more... could he? He didn't give it too much thought as toys and gifts were fixed and sent on their way, the trees coming back to life and taken back to the houses of those who have lost their Christmas to the poem, Danny doing well in making amends for what he had lead to transpire and started to come to realize that it was a part of the Christmas time as he brought his parents and sister back up to festive spirits, the ghosts heading out and easily avoiding the roused ghost hunters, Danny reflecting on his time and his wish to get better as he mused.

"And that's when I thought... Maybe this is the moral." He mused in his folks chasing after the sleigh being pulled by the ghost reindeer as he continued. "In the same way my folks love their old Christmas quarrel, everyone celebrates in the way of their choosing." He nodded to himself as he continued in his musing. "I was so busy whining, I started abusing the ones I love most and I ruined their cheer." He nodded to the final thought to come. "I'll try to be better, come Christmas next year." It still captioned like that in the poem text before the trio of Sam, Tucker, and Jasmine spoke, confused to the rhyme.

"Uh, nice sentiment, but what are you, a greeting card?"

"Yeah. Why're you talking in rhyme?"

"Such a dork." Danny realized the same as he questioned himself.

"We're not talking in rhyme?" He cheered with everyone backing off from his sudden change. "*WE'RE NOT TALKING IN RHYME*!" The book closed with the title 'The Fright before Christmas 2, Ghostwriter smiling before he edged away form his titanic cellmate, but cowered when the warden offer a cirrus treat from the other side of the bars.

"Orange?"

"Get that thing away from me!" He screamed as the sentence was light, for some reason, Clockwork had plans for the Ghostwriter, so he was on probation, the 'lighter' punishment over spending time in the jail...


	32. S2 - Flirting With Disaster

The day was starting out rather bad, as Sam just sat at a table at the mall as Tucker... was showcasing his tech to her as he messed with several cartridges. "And this cartridge makes my PDA a GPS. And this chip here makes the GPS a GBA. And..." He stopped before he asked. "I'm boring you, aren't I?"

"You're KILLING me!" Sam groaned before she asked the big question. "Why aren't we hanging out with Danny today?"

"He said he was busy." There was little doubt where he was taking his time with, Sam just was upset that she couldn't be helping too much herself before two others joined them, the Red Huntress of Valerie Gray and Star, her last name actually Schaeffer, but she wanted to be simply called Star Kim or just Star as Tucker greeted them, one positive, the other disdain. "Hey Valerie._ Star_."

"_Foley._"

"_Manson_." Valerie spoke to Sam as the goth just sighed, her opponent with Topaz.

"Whatever." Star started it off as she inquired, poking at a few buttons for old times sake.

"Where's your loser boyfriend Danny?"

"He's not my/her boyfriend!" Both Sam and Valerie shouted, surprising Star before closing the distance on each other as they continued. "And he's not a loser!"

"Umm ... ladies? Another good looking guy right here?" Tucker waggled his eyebrows to get some attention, but nothing as he moaned. "And people wonder why I love technology." His PDA started to get a bit fuzzy as he inquired in concern. "Sweetie? Are you okay?" Valerie took the chance to ask a bit more as Star didn't insist on trying to downplay Fenton, after all, he has a lot of rep as Phantom among those who really know as she drunk her carton of juice.

"So ... where is Danny anyway?"

"Not that it's any of your business, Valerie, but ... he said he was busy." That would have enflamed another war as Sam made to make her claim clear with Valerie the 'Russian spy in disguise', but Danny crashing into the table ruined the attempt as Technus floated down with amusement as people ran for it.

"Are you mad, child? Picking a fight with me in my upgraded form?"

"You upgraded to a mullet?" Danny questioned before he fired from his sitting position, Technus dodging before collecting some loose tech and forming a shield of ectoenergy to block the barrage before Danny spoke again. "This is really not the time, Technus!" He leapt off the table and landed on the other, Valerie humming as she was splattered with food.

"Not as disgusting as ecto-goo, but still close." She huffed and pulling off her pack and dumping it out, grimacing as all that fell out were books as she grumbled. "Argh, that's right ... Dad took my ghost-hunting gear and locked it in his lab." She was launched away and she groaned as she landed in a pool of soda, Danny getting mad as he made to get Technus for attacking one of his friends.

"I am gonna break you in half!" He charged for Technus as the tech-obsessed ghost mused.

"Temper, child, temper." He turned into code and teleported as he mocked Danny. "There's that emotion of yours again." Danny turned just as Technus reformed and snatched her by the throat as he continued, shocking Danny and hurling him into a display of boxes. "And emotion, whether you know it or not, is your greatest weakness." Technus dusted off his hands before turning into code again, phrasing into Valerie's phone as she shook herself off and stormed over as she exclaimed.

"Move it! Get out of my way!" She got to the front as she spotted Danny laying among the boxes and spoke, playing with the surroundings to be in the clear. "Oh, hi. Didn't expect to see you here." Danny replied back as Fenton as he mused just the same.

"Uh, didn't expect to be here." Valerie gazed romantically at Danny as Sam groaned.

"Oh, I'm gonna hurl." Technus, now inside of Valerie's phone, mused to himself of his next course of action.

"Perfect! Rage! Desire! Weakness I can use against him." He laughed as Valerie Gray was about to get an upgrade and it was all done as both Phantom and Huntress were flirting with disaster...

* * *

The class soon headed out to Axion Labs, it being bought by Vladco, which Danny could imagine what Vlad would want from Axion, but to be honest, he really didn't want to think too deeply of Vlad's intent as Mr. Falluca, who was in charge of the students for now, thanked Damon for the chance to tour the labs. "Well, class. It was very kind of Mr. Gray to give us a tour of Axion Labs."

"My pleasure, Mr. Falluca. Shields down, please." The mechanical doors lowered their ghost shields before opening up as Valerie's phone turned off to hide its hijacking ghost as they headed through, except one as Damon rested a hand on Danny's shoulder and spoke. "Danny, could you hold up for a minute?" Danny held back to listen to Mr. Gray as the rest of the class entered a part of the labs as Tucker exclaimed to the jet-pack stored there.

"Cool! This is the X-Twenty-Three booster rocket! Capable of launching a person into space in less than two minutes!" He turned in amuse to the looming column of machinery before them. "And this is part of the Cybertron main computer. It's the hub that leads to the actual computer processing unit which floats in space." Sam asked the big question.

"Why would they put it in space?" Tucker had the simple answer as he spoke.

"For safety. Sam, a computer that powerful could be used to control every other computer in the world. We can't just let anybody get to it." Valerie didn't seem interested in it as she took a look around the lab once more, but her hijacker made his presence known with locking her in a storage closet and jumping into the hub as the PDA went weird again before Tucker continued to explain about the hub. "That's why the only way to the main computer is through this hub and through a ten thousand digit security code."

"And you know this why?" Sam pointed out as Tucker replied just the same.

"Sam, I'm a techno-geek. What do you think I do all night on the internet, math homework?"

"I had always assumed so. Perhaps I need to assign more." Mr. Falluca answered with narrowed brow as Cedric and Talia smacked her faces with their palms, clearly Tucker was too dull to realize his own stupidity at times while Damon spoke to Danny out of the lab section.

"Are you OK? You seem nervous, son."

"Well, uh, kinda." Danny answered in glancing up to the portrait of Vlad on the wall, titled with 'Our Boss' under it as Damon continued.

"Well, I think you're a good kid. And I know my daughter likes you." Both chuckled as Damon continued in getting closer. "Just do me a favor. Keep your family's ghost weirdness away from my daughter, hmmm?"

"I will do my best, sir." Danny answered as Damon was more approachable than Mr. Sachez was as Damon nodded and he headed out before the ghost sense went off and he glanced as the roof was caved in and the Huntress arrived to blast the room as Mr. Falluca shouted.

"Everybody! Single file! Run!" The students ran as the Huntress continued her assault before Danny changed and was joined by Exorcist as he tapped into the Fenton Phones and spoke.

"Valerie, what do you think you're doing, destroying the lab!?"

"What are you talking about, I'm stuck in the closet!" They glanced to where the sound was coming from before Danny questioned.

"If she's not in the suit, then what is piloting it!?" They went after it as Damon returned and exclaimed to the level of destruction before the closet opened and Valerie exclaimed.

"Wow! What even happened here?" She yelped as Damon took her wrist in believing that she just lashed out for some reason while, in the hub, Technus mused.

"A ten thousand digit firewall, eh? Please!" He started to scramble it before failing as he exclaimed. "Aaaa! This could take a while. And that ghost child will be snooping around here at any time, unless I continue distracting him." He opened a virtual window to show Valerie's face as Technus made to multitask to keep both Danny away and give the tech ghost time to work. "And the girl will be the key!" Said girl was getting lectured as she defended herself.

"I tell you, it wasn't me!" Damon scolded back as they stood in the laundry room of their apartment.

"Well, it was your suit! So what am I supposed to think?"

"That somebody took it? That I'm telling the truth? How about that?!" She answered aggressively before storming off, entering her room and flopping on the bed as she started to think aloud about it. "It wasn't me. So who—" She stopped as her computer dinged before she found a message form Danny as she read it aloud. "Val, are you okay? Danny?!" She smiled before typing out her reply. "I'm fine. Don't know what happened, but, yeah." But who was replying back was not him as he was busy conversing with his friends on a Skype call, Cedric's layout must be form the base or elsewhere as he spoke.

"Doesn't it seem weird to you at all? I mean, usually, she's all 'WHERE'S THE GHOST! I FIND THAT GHOST, I'M GONNA WASTE IT!' But she didn't say a word."

"She spoke with her gun, Danny. Remember?" But that made less sense as Tucker checked his PDA as it was glitching out again for some reason, before Cedric could even join in, a message from Valerie came through.

"Danny, are you okay?" He didn't clue in as Valerie was in the closet, why would she be asking him as Sam and Tucker jumped at him about it.

"What's that?" They drew close to find out what he was smiling about and why he spoke aloud. "Is that from Valerie?"

"Tucker! Are you online again!?" Tucker quickly signed off before Danny closed the face cams to Sam's utter hey before Danny typed out his reply to 'Ghost8r'

"I'm fine, but I didn't know what to think. How about you?" What followed was a switch between the two or so each other believes as Cedric leaned back with Talia coming from behind and hugging him as she spoke.

"Strange how Miss 'Ghost Huntress' is deciding to flirt with Daniel, instead of wondering why her suit just attacked the lab."

"I know, and that part confuses me as well." Cedric answered as he typed it out, finding something else in the way. "Looks like Axion's security grid is both down, but on high alert, a hack would only draw the lab's attention to us, so I am afraid that Danny has to tell us about his 'chat session' with Valerie." He signed off and stretched before kissing Talia's cheek in getting up and both headed to their separate rooms for the nights, as the chat went form night to day and Danny was exhausted out as he yawned in front of Casper High before Tucker asked with Sam booting in.

"Long night?"

"Of flirting with disaster?" Danny defended himself as he spoke.

"You should really give her a chance, Sam. I know she wants to waste Danny Phantom, but did you know she's a ninth-degree black belt? That her favorite fruit is kumquat because it's a funny word?"

"No, Danny, I didn't, because I never can get past the 'waste Danny Phantom' part!" But the same was happening with Valerie as she explained out to Star in the halls of the school.

"Do you know that he wants to be an astronaut? That he bowls with a 150 average?"

"No, all I know is that his family is a bunch of ghost-hunting _freaks._"

"Sadly, semi-true." Danny answered as he had arrived to hear the comment as Star spoke.

"I'm sorry, but by 'freak' I mean... Nah, I mean it! See ya, Val! See ya, _freak!_" Danny huffed as Valerie answered just the same, just a face in the school society.

"Ah, don't mind her."

"Her? W-was there another girl with you? I hadn't noticed." Valerie snorted as she returned volley.

"Pretty cheesy, Neil Armstrong. You got lunch plans?" Sam and Tucker watched just the same before Sam exclaimed as Cedric and Talia watched the same happening with raised brow, Topaz was not there on account of venting out some rage on how Danny could have been 'chatting' with Valerie, like a couple.

"Is he nuts!?"

"Ah, don't worry, Sam. This is the puppy love stuff. He'll come to his senses in no time. Just watch."

"Oh, I was planning to." Both raised their brows to the large binoculars that Sam lifted up as the day turned into a stakeout of the pair, somehow each event getting more and more romantic between the two, candle light at the diner, tickets to the carnival, and a halted Ferris wheel ride to their initials being spelled out from the buildings as Sam groaned. "Oh, yeah! Of course that's where the Ferris wheel stops, why wouldn't it!?" She pause to scold Tucker as his PDA was going wacky again. "Can you turn that thing down?"

"No!" Tucker answered back as he continued. "Ever since that fight with Technus, this thing goes static-y at the weirdest times!" That didn't last as Technus' laughter came out to Tucker exclaimed. "Oh no!" The initials were hearted as Tucker realized what was happening. "And now we know why. It's picking up Technus. Something in his new upgrade is making my PDA all wonky." Sam clued in as well as she exclaimed.

"Like at the mall. And the lab. And the Ferris wheel. He's pushing Danny and Valerie together!" Tucker laughed before Sam spoke again. "If you're done, we have to tell Danny." Tucker kept laughing as he inquired.

"You want to tell Danny that Technus is playing matchmaker? How do you think he's going to react to that?"

"Laughing his butt off." Talia and Cedric answered as one as Sam glanced to them as Cedric spoke.

"I get that you see the same issue as us, but let's be a bit more realistic, Technus HATES Danny, so to what big means is he doing this matchmaker business for, I think we have to let Danny know still." As it turned out, that was the same reaction as Danny was laughing with the members meeting him as Casper before Sam inquired with a frown.

"You done yet?"

"No." He rested his back to the tree in laughing before he finished. "Okay now, I'm done. You're trying to tell me that Technus is trying to hook me up? C'mon! Technus _hates_ emotions."

"And _hello! _He's using yours against you?"

"Dim lights? Stalled Ferris wheels? You think the universe wants you to be together?" Tucker inquired, the trio unaware of the ease-dropping member listening in as Danny made his answer.

"Well, maybe. But... I don't know... I might." Both girls gasped to the reply as Tucker tried to voice his counter.

"Uh, really? Because Tech—" But Sam cut him off as she spoke.

"Uh, _tech_-nically because we just want you to be happy. If you like her, we'll just have to make space for her at our table." She answered in a painfully cheerful tone and a twitch of her eye as Danny spoke happily.

"And speaking of Valerie, I'm supposed to meet her before class." He headed off, but Valerie rounded about to speak to the four of them as she asked Sam in emerging form the thicket.

"Did you mean that?" Sam stammered before she replied once more.

"Well, uh, uh... Yeah, sure! If Danny likes you and you like him, then the least we can do is give you a chance." Valerie hugged her before Sam quietly moaned. "Human contact... crushing... Goth indifference." Danny chuckled as he approached that school with the thought of Technus playing matchmaker.

"Technus as matchmaker! Please!" He stopped as he heard several branches break and looked around for any sign of someone approaching him, but he dismissed it. "It's... nothing." He turned right on back as he posed himself a bit more confidently. "Sam was probably being paranoid!" But that didn't last as the sound of a jet roared and he turned with a gasp to the Red Huntress aiming her weapon at him from above the tree line before he exclaimed. "But it doesn't mean she's not right. Valerie's not in there, is she?" What came out WAS Technus as he commented and controlled the suit.

"No. She's not. She's over there, in full view." The suit pointed to Valerie who waved at Danny as he waved back before grimacing as Technus continued in the suit. "You should run now." Danny didn't need to think twice as he booked it as Valerie attempted to greet him.

"Hey, Danny. Sam and I just had the greatest conversation and..." She trailed off to his panic before HER suit just zoomed past and she exclaimed in disbelief. "That's my suit! And it's after Danny!" She grimaced as she knew how well the suit could be, she and Danny had to use both their training and short bouts about town to test themselves out and it was QUITE able to kill Danny, if given the chance, as she took off to the side and emptied her backpack for something that could help. "Oh, please, _please_, let there be something in here I can use!" But nothing stood out before she snatched a hefty branch and booked it to save Danny as he exclaimed to the controlled suit.

"You _were_ pushing Valerie and me together!"

"You're welcome!" The suit fired as Danny dodged out of the blasts before rolling and turning to change as Technus remarked. "'Uh-uh-uh, careful! Secret identity, remember?" The suit indicated to a surveillance camera on the school and Danny let his ring disappear as he was not ready to reveal himself fully in the open yet as Technus commented. "I wonder who'll miss you the more. The angry ghost hunter? Or the frustrated little goth girl who can't admit her feelings?"

"Whadya—"

"Ah, well, nothing you need to worry about now, because you are _through_ interfering with my plan!" Technus shouted as the laser sight was activated. "Yes! Yes! So long, Child!" Danny grimaced as he needed to get out of sight and fast before his answer came as a milk carton hit the suit and it turned to Valerie, who then leapt and knocked the suit off the board as she exclaimed to him.

"Danny! Run!"

"But..."

"Just run!"

"Oh, I'm running!" Danny exclaimed as he charged off. "Running to get help!" The four turned as Valerie and Huntress faced off, both on foot before Valerie pole-vaulted with a kick to the charging suit's face-plate and landed on her feet as Sam utter a 'whoa' before Tucker spoke as well.

"She really_ is_ a ninth-degree black belt! He better not forget their anniversary." Danny hid out into the trash before turning Phantom, phasing the stuff off before he zoomed out, the suit firing at Valerie as she used a lunch table as a minor defense before she slung her keys at the suit and groaned to the suit still standing.

"Oh, great! Now I'm doomed _and_ I can't get back into my house!" She took a blast from the ectogun and groaned as the suit moved to finish the job before Danny first punched, launching the keys out of it, before ramming it away and into the clock-tower as it blasted him into a building and called for the board, Danny rousing himself to dodge the blasts again and take out the board, the five scattering as debris of the board fell with the damaged suit as Danny landed and took in the suit before he mused.

"Valerie's not in there." Valerie crawled out from behind the trash can she hid behind as Danny continued. "Which means I'm not holding back!" He blasted, taking out the gun arm before a leg as he shouted. "Say goodbye, punk!" He fired a third round and blasted a hole through the torso as Danny paused as it fell in front of him. "How does that suit even form on Valerie if it is all circuits or something?" A countdown started on the visor as Danny exclaimed. "OH, COME ON, A SELF-DESTRUCT, REALLY!?" He zoomed away from the suit before it exploded, Valerie gasping as the parts dropped before plucking up the main torso, Danny back down as he spoke. "I'm... sorry about your suit, I didn't mean..." But she just nodded with a sad face as Technus was unheard from the get-go now.

"Aha! Demoralized! Now my plan can go forward!" The bell rang as Danny spoke once more.

"Uh, I gotta go." He took flight as Valerie ran her hand over the suit, curious to what even was controlling it, making it look like... he was trying to do that to her fully, he held back at risk of hurting her, but with an object, he could use his full power as she mused.

"He could have been trying to do that to me! That _could_ have been me! But... it... wasn't..." She glanced up as the camera also proved her innocence. "And now, I can prove it!" The footage was taken easily and shared with Damon as he exclaimed just the same.

"That could have been you!"

"No! Because it never _was_ me!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't believe you." Damon answered as he rested a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Y-you did do a good job of protecting your friend. I guess I can let it go for this time."

"You're only saying that because the suit's destroyed." The suit was also collected up and taken to Axion Labs as Damon gave his answer with lifted finger.

"Bingo!" At Fenton Works, Tucker and Sam volleyed the intent of Technus that they have come to know as Cedric and Talia watched it all the same while also watching a saddened Danny.

"So Technus was behind the attack during the tour. Which means he's probably trying to crack the code and get into the main computer in space!"

"Which he could use to control every computer in the world!"

"You only know that because I told you that."

"Not helping out much, Foley." Talia spoke as she rested her hands on Danny's shoulders and asked. "Are you okay, Danny?"

"You should have seen Valerie's face. I'm sure she thinks I was trying to waste her."

"But you weren't!" Sam defended as Danny didn't take to it at all.

"It doesn't matter! If I want to ask Valerie out, I'm gonna have to never tell her I'm Danny Phantom."

"Impossible as she is part of the team, that is your negative emotions talking." Cedric pointed out as Danny smiled before he frowned again at their intended plan in getting off his bed and heading for the door.

"But first, I'm gonna get rid of that virus called Technus! Once and for all!" But Jack Fenton had other plans as he appeared at the doorway.

"Danny! The word on the street is you got yourself a girlfriend!" He nudged before glancing to the four there with wrapping a hand around his son as he spoke. "Can you four leave so I can have a totally awkward father-son chat?" Sam and Tucker bailed as they exclaimed.

"Gone and gone!" They ran at top speed as Cedric and Talia nodded as they departed a bit slower.

"I wish you luck, Danny."

"Tell us how it turned out, won't you, Fenton?" They left and Jack got out the ice cream and bowls before Danny asked.

"Does it have to be awkward?"

"Yup. I'm going to give you some fatherly advice. Then, I'm going to say something that'll make you cringe and run out of the room in embarrassment."

"Check. Advice first?"

"All right." Jack answered as he returned to his seat from giving Danny that horrid thought, that was more scary than Box Lunch. "If you really like this girl, Danny, you should let her know. Give her something like this." He extended out a hand and dropped a gold ring with blue-green stone in it as Danny inquired.

"A class ring?"

"A girlfriend's not a girlfriend until you give her a class ring, Danny." He lifted up the ring as Jack went off. It also says I think you could be the girl I fight ghosts with. Or at least it did with your mom. I don't know how appropriate that is for you." Danny chuckled as he answered

"You'd be surprised." He held up the ring as he continued. "I can give her this?"

"Only if she's special. I'm sure Sam'll love it."

"It's not for Sam!" Danny answered as Jack laughed.

"Of _course_ it's not! You guys are just friends. I even had it engraved." Danny peered to the inside to see Sam engraved in the metal, he was actually surprised as he didn't know that either of his parents were able to work with jewelry as Jack continued. "You see, that's the embarrassing part. Now, if you'll be excuse me, it's time for pie." Where the pie came from, Danny was not too sure, nor did he feel the want to say it was pie flavored as he left, Jack muttering as he stared at the pie. "Clueless."

* * *

Night came again as Danny pulled out some familiar tools, the gang not seeing a full need for them back when as he spoke. "Here." He dropped them into Sam's hand as she looked at them in confusion.

"The Fenton Phones?"

"Once Technus leaves here, let me know." He made to head off before he stopped again. "Oh, and hold this." Sam glanced up in confusion at the ring now in her hand before Danny flew to Axion Labs form the hill they were standing at before Tucker commented.

"He really is clueless, isn't he?" Sam glanced at the ring, but she was reading it upside down as she questioned.

"Who the heck is 'Wes'?" Danny flew into the ducts invisible and intangible and looked for the main hub before he stumbled upon the break-room and looked to find Valerie and her father having 'their awkward parent-child' chat.

"This isn't going to be one of those awkward father-daughter conversations, is it?" The brand of ice cream was the same too, if there was going to be a running gag of the ice cream being a rocky road vanilla, then it was clear that Amity Park was getting more memey by the second.

"Probably. You really risked your neck to save that Fenton kid."

"Yeah. I like him a lot. Maybe even enough to give up ghost hunting." Danny smiled as Valerie thought about giving it up to be with him, despite the standing they have for each other, but Sam had no tact.

"Clueless One, this is Goth One, over." He whooshed out of there as both Grays glanced for the sound of it before Danny spoke back.

"Goth One, this is Clueless One. Why am I 'Clueless One'?"

"Tell him!"

"Shut it!" A sigh came through as Cedric joined in.

"That is for you to learn later, Clueless One, Sci One standing by. Over."

"Copy, Sci One." Danny answered as he flew into the lab where the jet-pack was being held as he spoke, barely noticing the suit in a pile there.

"I'm in." He reached into the canister and pulled out the X-Twenty-Three from its holdings with glancing to the terminals. "And from the looks of the computer, Technus is still in there." A heavy door opened and Danny glanced to the Grays spotting him as Valerie exclaimed, in both confusion and rage.

"You!"

"Oh, darn it." Technus was finishing up as he spoke with getting through the last of the codex firewall.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

"Get away from that!" Technus paused as he exclaimed.

"What is that racket? Security camera fourteen! Visual!" The camera turned and gave Technus a visual of Damon firing an ectogun at Danny as he dodged out of the way before he exclaimed to pointing at the hub.

"There's an evil ghost in that thing, trying to take control of your computer satellite!"

"Yeah! And we're lookin' at him!" Valerie exclaimed as Damon joined in, both heedless to the threat.

"And you expect us to believe you?!"

"No! I need more time!" But Valerie gave Technus just what he needed as she lifted up the torso of her destroyed suit.

"See why I need to hunt these ghosts? They think they can do whatever they want. But somebody has to stop them!"

"Excellent idea!" Technus beamed before channeling his power through the camera and blasted Valerie, Damon exclaimed as the old suit reformed around her, becoming more tech-attuned and more dangerous as red was joined by black and Valerie beamed at the new suit that now clad her, technology now containing her than just nano-fibers and wires.

"Oh, yeah! This is gonna be good!" That bought Technus the time he wanted.

"Two! One! And done! Goodbye, computer in Amity Park! Hello, fancy satellite in space!" He then blasted himself from the radar dish on Axion to the satellite as Tucker grimaced to the static and skull on his PDA.

"Uh, oh. Baby's got a headache." He beamed in before taking over the dome portion as he laughed, his voice echoing into the lab as he remarked.

"It's over, child!" The screen down below was filled with his face as he gloated to Danny, Damon and Valerie seeing the same thing. "You can't stop me now!"

"We'll see about that!" Danny strapped on the X Twenty-Three and pulled off the helmet from the space suit there before he turned it on and turned intangible, before taking flight, Valerie recovered to go after him as she jumped and her feet generated a new board, pronged out like devil horns as Damon exclaimed to the sudden suit.

"Valerie! Get outta that suit!"

"I will! As soon as I get that ghost!" She soared into the air, conjuring three small cubes to open up a hole for her to bust out through as Damon watched her go, Danny was having the time of his life as he exclaimed.

"Whoaaaa! Hey! I'm an astronaut!" Valerie went into pursuit and to intercept him as Sam called out.

"Uh, Danny." Danny didn't hear her the first time as she tried again. "Danny, come in. Stay alert! You have company!"

"Company? What kinda company." An energy bolt missed him as Valerie was hot on his trail.

"It's your girlfriend." Danny flew again with Valerie blasting at him as he exclaimed.

"She's not my girlfriend until I give her the ring."

"What is this? Nineteen Fifty-five?" Valerie hated that Danny just did that to her, but she calmed down as she continued the chase, but somehow linking into the comm-link as she spoke.

"Can somebody tell me, PLEASE, what the heck is even going on!?" Cedric was the one to reply as Sam and Tucker were surprised by how Valerie just entered the link like it was normal.

"Huntress, this is Sci One, the code names were just for aesthetic means, we have reason to believe that a tech-fueled ghost may have been hijacking the Axion hub for the orbital system in orbit."

"Well, you could have said so..." Valerie hummed as she continued to fire at Danny before he switched off the jet and drifted, Valerie soaring past before she tried to turn, but the Zero-Gs were affecting them both as she yelped with floating out of control. "So my 'old' suit, that was the ghost's doing?"

"Used to stall Danny as he can naturally sense ghosts, but we are going to have to get a more in-depth look with your new suit." Valerie paused before she asked with a confused look.

"You... don't want me to give up the suit?"

"You and Danny have become rivals and partners, you learned from one another in your brief battles and matches, you don't have to remove the suit for anyone else, I'll talk to your dad and have him understand it, this is a part of you and it has made you better, made you more human." Valerie nodded as she whipped back to Danny and fired a wrist blast, but the recoil knocked her downward as she yelped.

"Space is really countering me here!" Danny drift away from the way before the Technus-possessed satellite fired beams across the world, causing himself to appear in many forms down on Earth, as Danny tried to blast the satellite to stop it, but it was not working, confusing him before he got rammed and peered up to Valerie as she spoke. "Got ya now!" The board activated a reverse Jacob's ladder electric current as Danny yelped as she yelled. "Now, it's time... we... got..." She stopped as she spotted the satellite with the more horrid face with shades before she tapped again, the current stopping as she pulled Danny up with flying. "Okay, I believe you fully, Danny, now how are we going to take that thing out, it's blasting everything down below!"

"I was trying...!" Danny spoke as he pulled himself up and got behind Valerie in control of the board. "But my ecto blasts were bouncing off, what else can I do here, Val?" She glanced and gasped.

"The X Twenty-Three!" He glanced to the same as she exclaimed. "That thing has a mouth, blow it up from the inside!"

"That's crazy... but that's what I do!" Danny took off again before he soared a distance from the satellite before flooring the jet-pack into overload and rocketed straight for the satellite before going intangible, the pack soaring true as the face gulped the pack and regretted it as it exploded, the powers below dying out as rubble flew all over the place, Valerie barring herself from it before she soared in as she called out.

"Danny...? DANNY...!" Danny gripped the board and Valerie looked down to him as he panted.

"Next time I actually go into space, I am getting a safety harness, my ribs and arms are killing me..." She lightly plucked him up and assured him.

"Hold on..." She soared down with Danny holding on from behind, the heat of reentry getting them, but they were protected as they landed back in Amity Park.

* * *

Night turned to day and the party regrouped as Sam dropped the ring into Danny's hand as she spoke. "Here you go." He gripped his hand as Tucker asked, Cedric and Talia taking a short trip to Axion to explain it out with Damon who, for some reason, actually listened and agreed, putting his trust in them in keeping her safe.

"You sure about this?"

"Well, she said she'd give up ghost hunting. For me! Besides, I like her, and she likes me back. Isn't it supposed to be that simple?" The two friends exchange glances before they spoke to themselves.

"Clueless." It was at that moment that Valerie arrived, putting a hand on Danny's shoulder as she asked.

"Danny?" Danny replied back as he spoke.

"Wow." He got up in explaining. "I-I'm glad you're here. I, uh, wanted to ask you something."

"Actually, me first." Both left with Sam lingering before walking away as Valerie spoke in sympathy. "I mean, I've had a lot of fun these last few days, but my life's way too complicated right now for us to be anything other than... friends."

"Just... friends? B-b-but I thought..."

"I thought so too. But there's something important I have to do and I don't want you to get hurt because of it. Besides, it's not like you were going to give me some lame class ring, right?" Valerie kissed Danny on the cheek as he chuckled back at the idea.

"Ye-eah, right..." Valerie walked away as Danny opened his palm, the ring looking back at him as he spoke to himself. "Of course, it wasn't going to be that simple... Who was I kidding... I'm the clueless one to not notice when it is going to hurt..." Valerie shifted into the new suit and glance back from behind the corner as he sadly sat down.

"Well, you're my rival, but that look... was I right in letting you down with that?" She shook her head as she continued. "No, he needed it, more than anything he needed it, better to feel love and lose it than never feel it at all." She headed off to meet Cedric later as Danny felt a hand lay on his shoulder to Sam who smiled at him before he offered up the ring.

"Can you hang on to this?" The ring dropped into her hand and she sighed with tossing it up and catching it.

"Ah, clueless." She headed off, Danny letting a small chuckle fill his lungs, she was just as clueless as he looked forward again, Tucker watching before two girls joined him, just as nerdy as they inquired.

"Dumped him, huh?"

"Apparently."

"Goth girl makin' her move?"

"Doubt it." Tucker tried to use the charm, but neither actually noticed as the brunettes asked herself.

"I wonder if he likes brunettes."

"That's settles it!" He lifted his PDA in the air as he asked it. "You seein' anybody?" He hugged it as Valerie flew through the air, soaring with ease and over Amity itself...

* * *

Cedric recording his findings in record time as he spoke to Valerie landing in the training room, a level down from the armory and bunks and fourteen stories of it, how no one asked about it or how it was made was never asked as Cedric spoke. "Well, it looks to be that your 'Crimson Huntress' Suit is quite out-of-this-world, this sort of tech is not likely to be viable until maybe a hundred years of devoted research."

"So I can outperform Danny?"

"Looks like it, mental control over conjured ecto cubes, state-of-the-art atmospheric protection, you could walk through any hazard without incident, it is that compacted." Cedric answered as he wrote more. "But this upgrade has sacrificed some of your weaponry, making you more agile, more resilient, more capable of tracking down foes than just taking them out, like a sniper." Valerie raised a brow as she asked.

"A... sniper?"

"Exact, precise, deadly, you don't need to depend on heavy weaponry if your shots are just as precise as your mind can pinpoint, as for power..." He stepped behind and dabbled with the pack as Valerie glanced in confusion before Cedric called it with more writing. "Yep, powered with an ectoplasmic core, much more energy efficient and less costly than standard fuels and energies, it is a piece of expert technology improved to a more advanced level." Valerie turned as the pack repaired itself from the opening, just closing itself up.

"So... can we still be rivals and friends, if this suit could..."

"I'll bring it up, but for now, yes, you would be winning most of the time, but hey..." Cedric beamed as he continued. "At least now, you would be evening the score board, I'd say you deserve it, I'll tell the others just in case, there is more debate to be had..." Valerie nodded as she headed up, Cedric finishing the writing before pulling out his PDA and copying, Talia walking over as she asked.

"She is perfectly safe?"

"Technus' upgrade affected the suit, improving it dramatically, but nothing is standing out as a Technus virus or AI, she is in control of the suit fully, and I have been doing my best to ensure that it is the case, but we need to converse with the others, just in case." Cedric answered with turning to her. "Tech like this is often the cause for trouble, and I am sure trouble is bound to come if we are not too careful about it..."


	33. S2 - Micro-Management

Amity Park was calm for now as Danny and Tucker were jogging across the town, sadly it was a vain effort as even Topaz and Talia were no match for the jog as Danny panted in question. "So, ...how's ...the four minute ...mile coming, Tucker?"

"Nine minutes ...and counting, dude." Sam soon arrived, but she was jogging backwards with passing the four of them with Valerie and Cedric soon following as Tucker groaned. "This is just embarrassing."

"I know! How are you four going to pass the President's test on physical fitness if you can't even pass me?" Sam inquired as they left the park and started to head back into the city.

"So what? I have super powers. Why should I even care?"

"A lot, Danny, powers are well and good, but increasing your stamina and your fitness can go a long way in the process, I should know, how do you think I learned how to use the suit in the beginning so well?"

"Well said, Valerie." She beamed to Cedric's praise as Talia and Topaz groaned just the same.

"I am a dancer, not one of the Sultan's guard..."

"Now I know how the groupies feel, oh Ancients...!" Anymore was ruined when an ecto blast fired and launched them back, Tucker getting the 'trash' end while they peered up to Skulker flying above as he spoke.

"Hello, ghost child. I saw you running and thought 'Hey, I should give him something to run from'!" Danny, in getting back up faster, fired a ecto blast and tore off the left jet wing before he exclaimed to Skulker's instability.

"Ha! Let's see the president do that!" He went ghost and gave chase, barraged Skulker with ecto blasts and tearing the suit apart before he landed and beamed. "Hey, Skulker, without your suit, you're pretty powerless. Maybe you need to learn to rely on your '_natural' abilities_!" Danny spoke to the fallen Skulker as Sam exclaimed to Tucker as they took the time to pull him out of the trash.

"Tucker, hurry up!" He did arrive with a loss of breath before Sam snatched the Thermos away and beamed Skulker with it as he cried out.

"No, no, no!" He was trapped in the Thermos as Sam beamed once more.

"Speaking of natural abilities..." Danny grimaced to that meaning before he found himself struggling to perform a pull up in Casper High's gym and tried to do it, but he realized the problem, Phantom was easily powerful, Fenton was not as he huffed.

"I think I liked fighting Skulker better." He groaned as he struggled to even get one out before he questioned. "How many is that?"

"One." Sam, on the other hand, flaunted her skill as she backpedaled under the set beside him, performed a few before flipping off with a perfect dismount before continuing as she called out with backpedaling around the track.

"Hey Danny!" But the moment had him drop as Cedric glanced over and shaking his head as he turned his gaze back to the two of Demis with him, spotting them and supporting them, still mildly surprised that they were just like Danny, the ghost halves were powerful and capable, their human sides were less so...

* * *

The Ghost Zone was in its usual state of existence, but the mind of one Skulker, after getting trashed again was improvement as he donned new armor, new gear, and new weapons as he spoke to each other popping out on the armor. "Rocket launcher... Laser ray... Ecto-seekers..." A projection was used to display a projection of Danny Phantom as it mocked him.

"Maybe you should learn to rely on your natural abilities!"

"Let's see how his natural abilities match up to these _not_ natural abilities!" Skulker blasted the rock and laughed as, back in the Real World, the students of Casper High... were weak as all showed signs of fuming out as Danny breathed and focused, getting further up the rope climb before he toppled down and spoke.

"Trace is right, within my ghost half is powerful and all that stuff, Fenton is just a weak noodle, I should have taken him up on his training regiment."

"Do you want to die by working out?" Tucker questioned as Danny cast a glance to the techie before Mrs. Teslaff exclaimed in approaching the gym of struggling wimps.

"Listen up, people! This has to be the worst display of physical fitness I've ever seen in all my days of Casper High!" That was hardy right since she had a foot long in hand and ate it. Tucker also had to open his mouth.

"Apparently, somebody doesn't own a mirror." This got him a dodge ball in the gut and toppling him as Danny got up.

"And apparently, someone doesn't have a sense of humour or a will to live." A whistle went off behind them as Teslaff spoke into a shout.

"According to my reports, the only thing funny here is... HOW MUCH YOU'RE BRINGING DOWN YOUR CLASS AVERAGE!" Both blinked as Teslaff continued. "So I'm gonna assign you both fitness buddies." Teslaff directed her attention to said fitness buddies. "Manson..." Sam flipped over before the gym teacher spoke in final tones. "...You help Foley." Tucker stammered to get out of it.

"Uh... Um... I think I'm coming down with something."

"Yeah, a severe case of ab crunches." Sam said in spinning the ball and punching it away before grabbing Tucker's wrist and dragging him away as Danny chuckled before he spoke as well.

"She is going to destroy him..." He stopped to find Dash in front of him and grimaced. "...And I am about to be broken as well... hmm, irony..."

"Baxter, you're gonna have to whip Mr. Fenton into shape."

"Cool, is broken in half considered a shape?" Dash beamed in taking Danny by the front of his gym shirt, the dread strong in him about what was going to happen to him. At FentonWorks, Jasmine was taking on virtual ghosts with a headset, gloves, and boots as Jack called out to her movement and shouts.

"Jasmine, keep it down! I'm trying to calibrate the Fenton Crammer!"

"The Fenton Crammer?" Maddie asked as she approached the couch where Jack was working as he explained.

"It shrinks ghosts in size and, hopefully threaten them a little."

"Uh huh." Maddie answered before she questioned. "Then why don't you call it the Specter Shrinker?"

"Because that's what the ghost will expect me to call it." But the moment was ruined as the device was launched into the air by Jazz as she continued her routine of fighting, Jack bounding to catch the tool before he stopped Jazz in her flurry as he exclaimed. "Careful! That helmet's for battle training, not exercise, Missy."

"Sorry, dad. Virtual ghost hunting is a perfect way to keep my cardio up." Jazz answered with removing the helmet while also debating whether or not to bring it up with Cedric to further it as Jack paused before he continued in his plan.

"Well, if anybody needs me..." Jack spoke in walking to the side and grabbing a full box of pizza. "...I'll be working on the Crammer in the Op Center." He headed upstairs as Jazz to Maddie with a joke.

"Speaking of cramming..." Both girls laughed at it before they winced to Jack yelling.

"I heard that!" Meanwhile, behind some building down the way, Sam was drilling Tucker who was weak as she exclaimed.

"Come on, Foley! Keep going!" He flopped as he exclaimed to her.

"I can't! Your boot weighs a ton!" He turned his head to Danny who, if left alone for too long, would have been drinking a soda, but fortune didn't favor him one bit as Valerie decided to join, Danny getting the same workout with better results than Tucker. "How about a hand, Danny?" He flopped before raising his hands and clapping to Tucker's misfortune. "Oh, you're hilarious."

"Hey, when you got superpowers, you can afford to be." He started to do the push ups once more as Valerie nodded. "Besides, your pain makes me feel a bit better, I just don't really see the need to worry about a fitness test, but that is just me, I am clueless on a great deal of things, to be honest."

"I'm clueless too, but you really don't hear me asking. Besides, if you fail, I fail too." Dash pointed out as he scaled over the fence as Tucker spoke.

"And if he fails at gym, that would blemish his stellar D minus GPA." Dash jumped over before Valerie spoke.

"Allow me..." Dash backed as Valerie approached before curling a punch and pulling back, swinging it under as a mini battering ram formed, knocking the wind out him as Danny spoke to the downed Foley.

"You don't have superpowers. You don't get to be hilarious."

"That has got to hurt, though." Dash pointed out as he lifted Danny back up as Sam spoke.

"And that's our que to run." Sam pointed out as Tucker voiced his disdain.

"What do you mean our que? I'm not running any..." He trailed off as Sam held up an orange PDA, but its model was different as he spoke in surprise and confusion. "Why do you have the Smart Tech 5000? It's not even on the market yet."

"The real question is, are you fast enough to get it from me?" She asked with a smirk before taking off, Valerie laughing as Tucker chased after the Goth in begging.

"That brightened my day, I'll be going now." Valerie headed off in a jog as Dash rolled his eyes while still holding Danny's collar.

"Geez, talk about being driven by tech, what a wimp." He turned his gaze to Danny. "And speaking of wimps..." But Danny's ghost sense went off as he exclaimed.

"Oh crud!" Skulker returned, more armored and armed than before as he fired on the pair, Danny gasping as Dash saw the same before him pulled Dash down with going intangible, a crater in their space before Skulker primed more weapons as Danny exclaimed. "I've got to get Dash moving..." With that, he exclaimed in running for it, little realizing that Jack heard the cry for help and beamed himself.

"Sounds like Danny's in mortal danger of some ghost. Cool, I get to play with my new weapon!" He lifted the weapon before speaking again in his objective. "I mean, save Danny!" He left the pizza slice behind as it started to pool over the edge of the table as Danny ran down an alley before ducking out, Dash and Skulker rushing past before Danny changed in coming back out, the trio getting into view of FentonWorks, to be more precise, Jack and his Crammer as he spotted them and fired, Danny floating briefly to the now missing mailbox and trash can before going to save Dash, only to get a hand to the face and slammed into the ground by Skulker before Jack shot the both of them. Dash rushing over in confusion before he exclaimed.

"Awesome." Sadly, that didn't last as he was hit down and found himself... small, like very small as a crushed soda can towered before him before he spoke in panic. "I'm... I'm puny! Oh, I don't do puny!" Skulker and Danny were confused before Skulker inquired.

"What is this? What did you do?" Danny retorted.

"I didn't! He did!" Jack looked around in confusion before the blades came right back out as Skulker monologue.

"Big or small, I will still have your head in my trophy room!"

"Uh, nice image. Here's a better one." Danny answered with blasting Skulker away and into the soda can before he soared over to Dash. "We have to move!"

"Danny Phantom! If I weren't so terrified, this would be really cool!"

"Think of this as just another training regiment, more space, more chances to work out, right?" Dash beamed before the duo dashed off it to the fence before going up with Skulker in pursuit, slipping through the fence and going low as Skulker chased them and spotted them skimming the grass as Dash exclaimed.

"Oh man! We're dead! Dead!"

"No! No, we're not! All we have to do is get into Fenton Works and unshrink ourselves." The wind picked up and they were blown back some before Danny made to flying once more before he glowed and they dropped, yelping before Danny recovered to question. "Okay, that wasn't normal, must have been the wind shear or... something else..." The both of them got up and ran as Skulker questioned the same.

"Hmm. He seems to be losing his ghostly power." He was then snatched by a large bird and made to escape, but couldn't as he voiced. "So am I! But my suit... works fine! Advantage, Skulker!" He then grappled the bird's legs together and both dropped before Skulker recovered and the bird took off toward the feuding pair of Sam and Tucker. Dash questioned as they took a pause, unsure if Skulker was still following.

"How much further?"

"Ten feet, or at this rate, ten years." He glanced back to Skulker charging for them as Dash scaled to question the same before yelping to the incoming rockets before Danny swept with an ecto wave and launched pieces of grass up, getting the recoil to blast them to the door step as Danny spoke. "That cuts the travel time down, but now we need to get in." Danny paused before heading for the door and tried to phase before he spoke as he couldn't find the fuel to do so. "Okay, no blaming the wind for this one, something is wrong with my powers here." A dagger find the spot beside his face before he glanced to Skulker launching more blades and Dash getting pulled away from the barrage before Danny spoke. "Cedric should have REALLY given you your armor, but I am not judging. He's closing in, we gotta find another entrance!"

Over there, there's a mouse hole!" Danny shook his head in surprise as Dash booked it for the hole.

"We have mice?" He took off in following before Dash exclaimed.

"FLY!"

"I can't!"

"What!?"

"Just run! It's good for your heart!" They ran into the dark tunnel before Danny lit it up and took a look around before Dash exclaimed to the dull nature of the small space.

"What kind of mouse hole is this? Where's the matchbox sofa and the coffee table made from a spool of thread?"

"I... don't think cartoon logic actually works in the real world, Dash." They heard a snarl behind them and found a mouse in the hole as well as it growled at them, backing away before the heard of a machine sounded them they turned to find Skulker beaming with weapons aimed at them as Danny called out.

"GET BACK!" Danny aimed two blasts, but his blasts faltered out as he grimaced. "Oh man, that shrink ray must have shorted out my powers."

"Maybe you need to rely on your 'natural' abilities!" Skulker mocked as Danny called back, the light from his lingering ectoblast fading out.

"Will you just let it go!" And then, all went to the dark...

* * *

"I can't see!"

"Dash, get down!"

"Say farewell, ghost child!" Skulker popped a flare, lighting the space back up as Dash was left standing as he exclaimed, not sure if the hunter guy knew Danny.

"Where'd the ghost kid go!?"

"Well, I was hunting the ghost child, but I can easily mount your tiny head in my trophy room." Skulker answered with raising a blaster to shoot Dash, but he just went grossed out.

"Eww..."

"'Eww' is right." Dash whipped around to the mouse, but its eyes were green and Danny's voice was coming from it. "GET BACK!" Dash ducked as the possessed mouse whipped and slammed its tail into Skulker, smacking him into the wall as Dash picked up the flare drooped as he exclaimed.

"Dude, that's awesome! You took over the mouse!" But the mouse started to convulse as Danny exclaimed.

"Not... for long!" Dash quickly back as the mouse whipped about before Danny was launched out and he spoke in coming to a halt. "My powers are not stable now, I could only hold it for a moment!" Dash yelped as the mouse drew close to them before Danny spotted a second hole and quickly took the flare as he shouted to Dash. "Run! Go!" Dash spotted the hole as well before booking for it, Danny holding the flare before pulling the mouse away from the hole and grabbing a block of cheese before dashing over to Skulker and dropping him the two objects as the mouse approached before the flare died and Skulker huffed.

"This doesn't bode well." The pair dashed out before Danny breathed and raised a hand to his ear as Dash questioned.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"Fenton Phones, wireless comms between the members, they're green ear buds, to be honest." Danny spoke as he called out Cedric. "Cedric, we got a problem..."

"Did you and Dash decide that a fifty yard football tackle was in the lesson plan?"

"No, listen, Dad hit the both of us AND Skulker with some new device, can you figure it out before I lose my powers to this crazy stuff."

"Oh, the Fenton Crammer, there should be a reverse button on it, but knowing him, it would be in the last place he used it." Danny glanced up to the ceiling as he voiced.

"The Ops Center... Thanks, Cedric." He made to head further out into the kitchen as Danny tried to keep going. "Okay, just follow my lead and..." He stopped to Dash wailing as Danny questioned. "Dash?" He started to rant in panic.

"I can't do this! I can't! Everything's bigger than me!"

"Dash...!"

"And you, you're losing your powers! We're doomed! Doomed!"

"DASH!" Danny shouted to get the jock's attention. "STOP! LISTEN TO ME!" He breathed before he continued. "We're supposed to be working together with you as my fitness trainer, my talents are only enhanced with proper training and without that, I am weak, I am wimpy, and puny." He continued as he spoke on. "I'm not as strong without you in the matter of the fitness test, so let's keep going about this as fitness buddies, this is a perfect, if not surprising, change in plans, who said that explaining a house the size of a mouse was going to be easy, besides, Cedric is VERY likely to take this challenge easily, so let's prove to be better." He offered a hand to Dash and he took it as he spoke, getting lifted up.

"Thanks, I needed that, really I do, I just don't do well with being puny." Danny nodded before both paused to his boots glowing before reverting to his shoes as Dash asked. "Hey, what happened to your feet?"

"I think that the ray affecting us is also shutting my ghost powers down, my transformation is the next on the list, so let's..." Anymore was lost as a colossus stomped and launched them as they looked up to Jazz at her training. She soon took off the helmet and shook off the sweat formed, but to them, those drops were huge as Danny exclaimed. "And now, we run from the falling mounds of water coming to CRUSH US!" They ran for it and headed into the living room with pants before they gasped as Skulker returned on the mouse as he exclaimed.

"TO THE HUNT!" He whipped the reins fashion on the creature as both questioned.

"How even...?" While Tucker was getting his hands pecked by a bird to Sam's standing by, the pair booked it back into the kitchen with Skulker chasing them as he exclaimed.

"Keep running, whelps! I'm about to make mouse meat out of you!"

"It's mincemeat, bonehead!"

"Not this time, it's not!" Both sharply turned the corner, while Skulker and his mount skidded into the wall and crashed before another made their appearance Maddie as she exclaimed to the mouse on the floor.

"You filthy animal!" Her tool extended out as a bo staff before puffing out as a broom, both mouse and hunter knowing fear as Maddie exclaimed. "You are not leaving mouse droppings all over my clean kitchen!" She smacked the space where they were and a dust bunny came barreling for the pair before Danny exclaimed.

"Dust Bunny!" Both jumped over it and Dash commented.

"Woah! Nice air!"

"Thanks!" Danny grimaced as his lower torso reverted back to his jeans as he breathed. "Of course, the power drain is so much that I am reverting back faster."

Then shouldn't we...?" Anymore was lost when a dust bunny caught them and deposited them on a green landscape as Dash exclaimed. "Oh man! We're back outside!" But Danny didn't think so as he felt one of the blades and it felt off as he exclaimed.

"Wait! This isn't real grass!" Danny clued in as he groaned. "Oh no..." A series of thuds hit the ground with golf balls marked with ghosts and the pair looked up to the real titan of Jack ready to be playing golf. "It's his weekly golfing practice, going for the hole."

"Where do we hide!?"

"In the hole, my dad is MANY things, but getting the ball IN the hole is outside his level of playing." They ran for it and made it before Danny started to lower Dash in, his hand reverting for a moment, but he held before both made it down and watched as the balls that came rolling from the random swings of Jack before Dash spoke.

"Man! Is everyone in your family bad at sports?"

"Honestly, yes, but Dad is a trained gun holder with Mom, Mom has a ninth-degree black belt, and Jazz is amazing at Frisbee golf, other than that, Dash, I am certain that I have NOT had the best time with sports." Dash raised a finger before he nodded as they made for the steps, scaling up them as they panted, elsewhere having the PDA of Tuckers revealed as fake. "Geez, I am all about a ladder or a climb, but this is feeling like Rushmore here!"

"Sheesh, you are not kidding!" Danny grimaced once more as the upper portion reverted to a t-shirt with DP on it as Dash questioned. "How many costume changes are you going to go through? What is this, Vegas?"

"I swear that it is not my intention..." Skulker suddenly arrived and fired a few more rockets at them before they scaled faster and quickly closed the door to Danny's room, Skulker slamming into it as he exclaimed in getting up.

"Very well!" He took flight, heedless of the red glow of the mount, as the pair arrived to the window sill and Danny spoke.

"Hurry, out the window and up to the Ops Center!" Dash nodded as he started to scale the strong hanging outside as Danny questioned why Skulker wasn't following before he found the hunter, coming from the outside as he called out to the approaching hunter. "Hey Skulker!" He continued with pulling over the bag of chips that were sitting on the desk and dumping it down at the hunter. "Still think your abilities beat mine?" The rain of chips had its effect as Skulker got pelted as he exclaimed.

"Lime and vinegar? Who eats those?!" He blasted the storm, only to get smaller pieces to hit him, but his luck didn't end there as the bag was also dropped in his exclaiming. "Oh, for crying out loud!" The bag trapped him as it fell to the ground, he ripping through it with a roar as Danny called out.

"We don't have much time!" He swung to the ledge and landed before Dash tried the same and nearly fell, if Danny hadn't caught him as he exclaimed from the height. "I got ya!" He pulled Dash up and got his hair to revert to black, but only the bottom half as he breathed. "Whoa, I could work that, but Mom would kill me for trying that out." They ran for the window before pushing it open as Dash exclaimed in pride.

"We did it! What do you think we just benched? Proportionally?"

"I don't know, given our size and the weight, I am guessing a good two hundred, but I could be wrong, I am somewhat a bit duller in math." Their moment were ruined when Skulker appeared behind them as he ranted.

"Soon, you will not be that good at breathing either!" Both expected a shutdown on them, but they got aid in the mouse, somehow making it to the Ops Center and leaping for the Skulker as it bit down on his armor as he called out. "GET OFF OF ME!" But he rocketed away as the pair booked it in and the window closed shut as they spotted the large tool on the table as Danny spoke.

"That's gotta be the device."

"And that's how we're gonna get to it." Both also spotted the pooling piece of pizza over the edge before Danny spoke.

"Okay, I need to get this out of my system, bare with me here." Dash raised a brow as Danny bent low and gestured to the piece. "Pepperoni, dude! So cheesy!" Dash paused before snorting, what person wouldn't at the fact that the way up was by pizza, how many could say they climbed a piece of pizza to get anywhere? They slid on down and started to climb as Skulker returned with the mouse in smashing through the window, his pack wrecked, but he still got in.

"Thank you for opening the window for me. Your services are no longer needed." He blasted the mouse into the wall, trapping it as Skulker rushed over in pursuit of the pair as he exclaimed. "You'll never be able to climb fast enough to save yourselves!" He spoke in scaling as well with a laugh as Danny made it and reverted back to human, except his eyes as he grimaced as Dash reached up to get over and Danny made a choice.

"Dash, when you get up here, get to the trigger and switch it from un-cram, it should reverse the loss of powers for me here."

"Are you sure, Fenton?"

"Positive, now let's move!" Danny answered as he pulled Dash up and both rushed over, Danny into the barrel, Dash to the trigger, as Skulker came up, Dash pulling the lever to un-cram as the hunter shouted.

"You can't escape me! I'm faster than you!" He stomped over to the barrel as Dash started to push into the trigger. "I'm stronger than you! And you're weak! Weak!" Dash got it done as Danny was blasted and he regained his powers and formed in the center of the room as he turned in his normal size to the small Skulker.

"Actually, I'm a lot stronger than I thought!" He snatched Skulker and flicked him into the freezer, closing the door as he turned to Dash who beamed as Danny spoke. "You did awesome, Dash." He picked up the tool and blasted Dash who resumed his normal size as he laughed and cheered.

"Way to go, Dude, I KNEW I could count on you!"

"Yeah, well, without my powers, that made one of us. Sorry that this wasn't the workout you were planning."

"Dude, we just scaled stairs, climbed wires, and lifted a huge window open, that was more exciting, epic, and a better workout than what I got." He bounded off the table as he continued. "I know that this idea is REALLY stupid, but what's say we stuff your head in the toilet, just for laughs?"

"I really wouldn't, Dash, it's large enough for my dad's."

"Oh, yeah, you would have gotten stuck without your powers." Dash nodded as he spoke with raised hands. "Just... don't shoot me, I just don't do puny." Danny nodded as the pair of them headed out, Danny taking a moment to pulling the mouse from its prison and moving to put it somewhere safer...

* * *

Come Monday, the test was on as Tucker and Danny went head to head in the race, outpacing the others members, but Danny excelled as Tucker gasped. "How are you even...!?"

"I got practice, training, and one heck of a fitness buddy to track." Both got their five and climbed like devils, before crossing the line as Teslaff spoke.

"Well, both of you didn't make record time, but you both passed."

"Thanks." Both said as Teslaff turned to the pair who helped them out.

"Not you two, you two. Good job whipping these wimps in shape." Danny rolled his eyes while Tucker was in disbelief before Dash pointed out the social status at the school.

You do realize this is the last thing we'll ever do together?"

"Count on it! Does this thing come in black?" Danny just sighed as Tucker fell to the ground.

"Well, it wasn't all that bad, better than I expected, and besides, Dash has more than proved himself, I'm sure Cedric will be interested in testing him in the base..." Skulker was left in a bad spot as an ice cube for a root beer float in Jack's hand...

* * *

"I don't know, this feels... tight and heavy..."

"I can loosen it later, this is the initial run for your new suit, if you want to take on ghosts than just the guns, than I need to be sure; Now, Baxter, get out here." The jock sighed before he stepped out into the lights of the base, he still reeling from the size of it all, the armor bulkier than the football outfits, but it was also designed for a heavy hitter as Danny asked in Phantom form.

"So what is this piece of tech exactly?"

"The Steel Minotaur." Cedric answered in his Exorcist suit, as Dash moved carefully to not break anything, body or suit wise. "Its design is based on heavy hits, durable plating, and muscles to carry it, from first glance, it is tight around the arm joints, the legs joints, and even binding around the chest, I will loosen it now." He headed over and started to work as the suit lightened up and Dash breathed easy as Cedric continued. "Now, to run the basic tests, with that, I need Dash to break the targets..." The jock blinked under the slit face-mask before Cedric continued. "Just punch, kick, tackle, smash, whatever you want to do, Dash, just destroy the dummies, and don't worry about damages here, we'll work on damage control later."

"Oh, okay." He then roared out a battle call and charged into the mess of maze walls and dummies, destroying a few as Danny winced to the destruction.

"Are you sure he should be allowed that?"

"I am certain that he is also allowed to follow a training regiment to better your human strength, so don't you be sassing me." Danny nodded as Cedric hummed. "Besides, this will be helpful, he is both your supporting muscle in the field and a heavy brawler, he can now take on actual foes, though I will have to address his behavior, if he starts to pick up bullying again and the armor activates, he could really hurt someone." Danny nodded and watched as Dash just tackled a dummy to pieces and it was one of the custom ones that could be used in football...


	34. S2 - Beauty Marked

Honestly, it was not the first time that something like this had happened, but it was still something as the auditorium was packed and a speaker in a dress and a over-sized ring started to sing out. "Girls, do you dream of being a princess?" Most of the female body stood up in cheer as Sam just moaned in boredom.

"No."

"-Of wearing beautiful gowns and jewelry?" The speaker asked while showing over the huge ring as Sam spoke again.

"No."

"-Of charming and beguiling that special prince?" She batted her eyelashes with hands clasped as Sam just groaned.

"...and gag." She answered in pointing to her mouth as the speaker continued in her speech.

"I'm Dora Mattingly, and I want to make sure that dream comes true for one of you sweet, young ladies." Dora spoke in walking over to a large rope off to the right and pulled it to bring down a banner with the text of 'Miss Teenage Happy Princess Beauty Pageant' on it as the students cheered and clapped as Dora continued her speech. "That's why I'm bringing my 'Miss Teenage Happy Princess Beauty Pageant' right here to your school." Sam groaned with a hand to her cheek as she grumbled.

"I hate this more than I hate the morning sun."

"What's wrong with beauty pageants?" Tucker asked as Sam glanced over to him while Topaz, Talia saw the same thing and just slumped away as Cedric just sat much the same.

"Other than the fact they turn girls into shallow doormats and boys into drooling idiots? Everything!" She exclaimed as Tucker continued.

"But it's got a swimsuit competition!"

"That's a bad reason to like them, Foley..." Topaz answered before she sat back down as Dora continued.

"I need a worthy and chivalrous knight to select our princess!" Just like that, MOST of the guys sprang up to be selected as Tucker, being one of them, exclaimed in glee.

"Oh, man! Danny would love this. Where is he anyway?" That answer came form outside as Danny was fighting some sort of ghostly executioner as the ghost swung his axe at the heroic Demi as he shouted in dodging.

"Hey! if you needed something, you should just _axe_. Get it? Axe?" The executioner pulled out a lasso and tossed it, catching Danny's feet as he replied. "Okay, you don't like axe puns, noted..." He yelped as the ghost dragged him down toward the school as he pondered to himself.

'What the heck is this guy doing, what even is he after...?' Back in the auditorium, Dora continued her speech as she looked over the members of males wanting the chance to be a judge.

"Our princess must appeal to the masses, so she shall be chosen by a common boy - Someone average and bland." She started to go through them as she mused. "Too popular." There goes Dash. "Too athletic." Kwan was out of the running. "Too nerdy." Game over for Mikey as Dora paused on Tucker when he cut in. "Too-"

"Handsome? Smart? Intelligent?"

"-Annoying." She headed off as the trio behind Sam pumped their fists in please while Sam just smiled to that notion, though she hid it well. Sadly, it also allowed the pair of ghosts to crash in, Danny unwittingly reverting back as Dora sorted through. "Normal, Dull-" Danny screamed in a crash as the executioner's lasso seemed to have released him and he flopped on the stage, but that got Dora's attention as she exclaimed with raised hands before gesturing to the dazed Danny. "You! You're perfect!" Danny was confused as to what he jsut entered himself into while, something else was going on in the Ghost Zone, more exactly within a realm trapped in medieval times...

* * *

Danny wasn't even sure what even was going on as a number of girls waved to him as he took everything in, even the banner for a 'Beauty Contest'. "Hi, Danny." He paused when Paulina approached with a dish fill of cookies.

"I baked some cookies for you!"

"I did your math homework!" Star answered as well with a large amount of paper in hand as Danny tried to sway it away.

"Now, ladies... you can't influence the judge with cookies and- whoa!" He took a second look before asking. "Is this homework done all the way through next semester?"

"Mhmm!" Star nodded with a smile as Danny smiled back with a cool look.

"This mildly pleases me." Dash, on the other hand, didn't look pleased as he snatched Danny up and spoke.

"Hey Fentoid! It's only been two hours and I'm already tired of you hogging all the hotties!"

"Dash, I am the judge, I am meant to be cooed over for one of these fine ladies to be chosen as the winner, they are just trying to motivate their victory, speaking of..." Dash frowned as Danny glanced to Cedric who was following behind while Tucker was to Danny's side. "Vice-Judge, I would like to put a bounty of three points on Dash."

"Reasons?"

"To see the commitment of these ladies, let's see how you run, star quarterback."

"Oh... I didn't think that through." He really didn't as he quickly dropped Danny and ran for it as he now had a horde of angry females after him as they shouted.

"GET HIM!" They faded down the hallway as Tucker exclaimed.

"It's like a dream! Every girl totally wants to date us."

"Us?" Danny asked with amuse as Tucker just continued.

"Hey, as the judge's best pal, I'm entitled to a little spillover." He pulled out his PDA to scroll through a number of names when he spoke to the girl beside him. "Want to go out, uh... Ashley?" She was annoyed with that she she retorted.

"Yeah, right!"

"Judge's best friend." Somehow, that worked as she leaned close with hands on his shoulders and a smile.

"Pick you up at seven?"

"Seven." Danny and Cedric rolled their eyes as Ashley headed out as Tucker continued to scroll through the names as he continued.

"That means I should be free around nine for..." His reaction on the landed name and picture was surprise as he exclaimed. "SAM?"

"Yes, _Sam_." Sam answered form beside them as she answered the large question in the surprise. "I signed up for the stupid pageant." Everyone gasped that the resident goth was applying herself to the pageant before Tucker burst out laughing.

"What is this, April Fools Day? You hate this contest!"

"I'm not doing this to win-" She answered as she pulled the beret over Tucker's face. "I'm doing it to make a statement." She paused before asking the pair of guys there. "Why didn't you laugh as well, you guys?"

"Meh, I have been your best friend for a long time and now I am in a love triangle with you and Topaz." Danny answered with pocketing his hands. "I find you and her very beautiful and very independent, so whatever you are going to do, that is what you are intent on doing."

"Besides, unlike Tucker..." Cedric answered as he continued to check his clipboard and also making a digital chart for the contest. "The two of us will be judging you, based on Dora's guidelines, we have to be non-biased and treat all of this just the same, if we allow emotions to control us like lust or desire, we are no good as judges." Danny nodded as Sam smiled as she spoke.

"Thanks, now time to make a statement..."

* * *

"Well, here's a statement." Dora spoke as she gestured to Sam's appearance to the group of girls at the football field. "It says '_I'll never win in this outfit'._" Sam glared as Dora continued. "Still, Ms. Manson has a point." The organizer said as she strode across the line of girls as they watched her. "You girls are unique individuals with strong opinions and independent minds."

"You're darn right we are."

"It's my job to make you forget that and mold you into happy little princesses." The girls cheered as Sam just went to displeasure as the first exercise was under way, balancing a book atop your head, except Sam just read the book and caused a domino effect of knocking the books off their heads as Danny mused with Cedric.

"Old-fashioned method of balance and proper stature.

"Yet, it is also worth noting that you need to keep the book ON your head, not be reading it.

"Dating her Saturday." The pair looked at him as he continued to be the pick-up guy. "Dating her Sunday."

"Really...?" Both inquired before Danny's sense went off and the Headsmen erupted form the bleachers to float over the field as Danny exclaimed. "If we live that long!" He glared at Tucker as he continued. "Could you try doing that when I'm a little less popular?!" Cedric followed Danny in jumping into the hole made and both Phantom and Exorcist emerged before blasting the Headsman, catching him in the back. The girls on the field were going over smiles and, of course, Sam tried to make it bad with fanged fake teeth, but Dora was not having it while Danny and Cedric contended with the Headsman before saving a pair of students from a falling tree, but the moment they took their eyes of him, he disappeared as Danny was confused as to what even happened. The girls did the make-up, Sam and Paulina getting countering looks before the walking portion, Sam's combat boots a force to reckon with, but Sam caught a glance of something, it almost looked like red eyes and forked tongue before Dora stormed off and Sam tried to make her concerns known to her friend and 'boyfriend'.

"I'm telling you, there was something weird about Dora."

"Hmmmhmm." Danny hummed as Sam continued.

"Ghostly weird." Sam whispered as Star was massaging Danny's back before he replied.

"Thanks, Star, where did you learn to massage like that?"

"At the Spa, I was so interested in it that I wanted to at least learn how to do it."

"Cedric, two points for Star." Cedric nodded as Danny looked back to Sam. "Look, even if you want me to investigate Dora on 'ghostly past times', I can't without giving rise to suspicion and so far, Dora has been tame, or rather tame unless you accidentally did something wrong in her books." Sam frowned as he continued. "It will be fine, just keep on the down low and try to learn more carefully, as for me and Cedric, we have judge duties that need doing right now, see ya!" Cedric nodded to her as the pair headed off. Sam sighed before she smiled with a answer.

"I'm glad we had this chat, you guys." They took a seat with Paulina for comments, Tucker TRIED to get a recording of the speech before Cedric just pulled out his pen and pierced the device to Tucker's fear as he spoke.

"Foley, we talked about this, you want to be demoted as female beat target number two?"

"N-No...!" Danny's ghost sense went off as he spoke.

"Looks like we have bigger things to handle." Students ran for it as a barrage of arrows flew across the room as an archer ghost fired, Danny leaping behind a cutout to block the arrows at him while Cedric just maneuvered before both changed and Danny called out. "Where's Talia and Topaz, they should also being helping us out here."

"I know, but for some reason, they were not around to help deal with these ghosts, like a code of honor or something, honestly, I'll ask them when I find them." Danny nodded as a pair of arrows came for them and they caught them as he uttered a single word.

"Ha!" He stopped as both of them had dynamite on them before Danny continued. "Dynamite, aren't you a little TOO medieval to be using a western tool of excavation?"

"Doesn't matter here." Both were blasted into the wall as the room was emptied as Paulina spoke to the slumped Phantom.

"I'm still totally into you, but I can't let Danny Fenton know. He's the judge with his friend." She screamed with resuming the run as Cedric commented.

"That was weird..."

"Yep." Both primed and fired, launching the archer out before arriving as they blasted at it. "Dude, you're seriously cutting into my very limited, girls are flirting with ME time." The archer got out of the way before barraging them once more, Cedric deploying a shield to block the shots as Danny got pin into the billboard before he phased through and came form behind to snatch the quiver of arrows form the ghosts as he mocked. "Ha! You're not so tough without your arrows!"

"You rid his arrows, not his ability to hurt you." That was added to a strike with the bow as Danny moaned as the archer picked him up.

"Now he tells me..." He was then used like an arrow and flung into the steps, reverting back as he watched the archer just flee, Cedric bolting over to his friend, instead of giving pursuit, as he mused. "I don't know why these spooks are going all medieval on us, but I'm gonna find out." He stopped as a pair of girls greeted them and he switched back over, intent on keeping the cover for now. "As soon as this pageant is over." Danny was lifted up while Cedric paused as he raised a hand, he getting a link and seeing it too on his visor, it was Dora, looking... at Danny in the ring as she exclaimed.

"You see? The boy is distracted. The ring masks me from his ghost sense, he suspects nothing." The image changed to a blue-skinned princeling as he scolded Dora.

"Which is more than I can say about the girl!" Cedric didn't look the looks of him right now as he scoffed. "Perhaps next time, you should just walk up to her and scream 'I'M A GHOST'!" The image changed to Dora getting her foot stomped on and Cedric could see the change as well as Dora pleaded with the princeling.

"Please! Please forgive me, brother! I didn't think-"

"You're not suppose to think! You're suppose to keep it away from the ghost boy until show time! So DO IT!" Sam saw it all, but Cedric spoke to the hidden face, who was hiding in the rafters.

"Talia?"

"Indeed." The genie Demi answered in a whisper. "And it would seem that we have found our source and its holder. The prince is Prince Aragon, Heir of the Aragon Realm within the Infinite Realms and the ring is the Observer's Eye, a ghost relic that can coat a ghost in human form and disguise them from any form of ghost sensor."

"So what are you and Topaz going to do?" Talia watched as Dora headed off for the contest as she spoke, Topaz nodding as well.

"Topaz and I will be making our way to Aragon, we will need to blend in and discover Aragon's plans before it becomes dangerous for us all. Be warned, Aragon is a realm trapped in medieval times, so any technology from the modern world will be useless to fight him."

"Doesn't explain the TNT..." Cedric glanced to Danny as he was guided in. "Alright, I'll keep an eye out here, love you and be careful."

"Please, a harem dancer and a musician into a kingdom of male dominance, we will be fine, Cedric, and... love you too." The link cut and Cedric huffed as he looked ot the sky, hoping to see the pair heading for Fenton Works for the Portal.

'Be careful...'

* * *

Tucker tried to muse on their final date-able time as Danny shook his head before Sam quickly approached him in exclaim. "Danny! Don't go out there. Dora is..."

"An insult to modern women? A throwback to the dark ages?" His ghost sense went off as the executioner returned as Danny mused bitterly. "And speaking of dark ages..." Danny took off to go ghost and chased the executioner as Sam tried to call out.

"Danny, wait!" But someone stopped her and she exclaimed to Dora there. "Miss Mattingly! I didn't hear you!"

"You'd be surprised how dainty your footsteps can be, when you don't wear combat boots!" She shouted before calming down and taking Sam's wrist as she spoke. "Come, we mustn't miss the pageant." Cedric glanced to Dora before he resumed working as Danny called out to the executioner.

"You know, I was really hoping we could bury the hatchet!" The ghost hurled his axe as Danny dodged and called out. "Miss!" But the axe stopped and spun right on back as Danny continued. "Or... perhaps not." He flew with the axe flying after him before he went intangible and slipped through a billboard for the axe to get stuck in as he called out. "Later, dude, it's been a slice." He shouldn't have closed his eyes as a series of arrows pinned him in a net as he groaned. "Okay, well, it's official, I'm all out of axe puns." He grimaced as the two ghosts made their way to him while, back at the contest, Lancer tried to sing as the girls walked in their gowns while Sam pleaded with Dora.

"Miss Mattingly? I realized I'm not cut out to be a princess, so I'll just be going..."

"Nowhere..." Dora answered with snatching Sam's arm before her amulet...

"Oh my gosh... I'm REALLY in trouble now..." Sam exclaimed as the amulet was too familiar as Dora shifted into the blue dragon that she turned into once and it belonging to someone that Cedric was familiar with, Princess Dorathea.

Back with Danny, the executioner raised his axe before stopping in surprise as Danny pleaded. "Wait! Don't I get a trial? A phone call? A last request? Come on, cut me some slack!" He paused with a smile. "Hey! Another axe pun!" The bell tower rang out and the ghosts abandoned the fight as Danny powered the net off before he exclaimed. "Oh man! I'm late for the pageant!" He took flight and arrived to judge as Cedric whispered to him.

_"You're late!"_

_"Sorry, I got caught up with the Headsman and his archery buddy. Where's Topaz and Talia?"_

_"They said they would be investigating those ghosts, they are currently in the Ghost Zone."_ He nodded as the talents went on, but all of it was something anyone could do with proper training before it was Sam's turn and she spoke.

"I'm Sam Manson and my happy princess talent is..." Dora gave an evil look with her dragon eyes as Sam finished. "...Goth Haiku." And thus, she went into it. "Despair without end. Dora's a ghost! Utter blackness, nothingness. Dora's a ghost! DORA IS A GHOST!" Danny just shook his head as he spoke in a huff.

"So that's your big statement? Dora's a ghost? I mean what... wait! Dora's a ghost?" He booked it as Cedric followed, saving the results for later as Lancer spoke in his bard attire.

"Good sire judges, how thou made thy decision?"

"SAM!"

"Yay verily, let it be proclaimed that the Happy Princess Crown shall be decreed to... Sam!? Are you unwell?" But that was not the reason as the spotlight hit Sam and all stopped as the pair of Dora and Sam arose into the air on a platform.

"SAM! NO!" But it was too late as she was fitted with the crown and a green light filled the area before they disappeared, Danny aghast that he just dropped his girl into the clutches of some evil ghost while Topaz and Talia, now in more medieval attire, blended into the crowd as Aragon made his decree.

"My loyal subjects, at long last, the wait is over! Your prince has finally selected his bride!" He turned to the cheers of his people as Sam appeared in front of Dorathea as she caught the last part and exclaimed.

"Bride!?"

* * *

She was soon trapped in a tower as Dorathea mused. "Oh, cheer up, dear. You're going to be a princess!"

"Cheer up!?" Sam exclaimed as she was being fitted with something. "I'm hauled off to the Ghost Zone and about to be married off to a stranger!" The corset fitting was tight as Dorathea worked on it as Sam continued, swiping Dora away before trying to leave, only for the crown to stop her as it formed a field and blasted her back as she continued her rant. "Oh, and let's not forget about this lovely feature to my crown, it won't come off!" She tried to pull it off as Dora laughed.

"It's no use, child. Only Prince Aragon can remove the tiara, you are bound to him forever." Sam dusted herself off as Dora continued. "Isn't that wonderful?" She raised a brow to Sam's denial as she spoke.

"Well, Prince Aragon need to get his head out of the middle ages! It's the Twenty-first Century."

"Not here." Sam's eyes in confusion as Dora explained. "In this realm, all time stands still. Not that you care, but this is no fun for me either. I have to make you a princess or the prince with have my head." Sam hummed before a pink dress was dropped on her by two ladies in waiting and Dora sighed. "We're doomed." Neither of them noticed as Sam's right arm, hidden under the dress folds suddenly pulsed green and started to creep like vines across her arm.

While in the Real World, where the trio would have been facing a horde of angry girls for the wrong choice, all were brought low as Danny SHOUTED with authority that he was TRYING to save Sam from a ghost and that his decision was NOT influenced by emotions, they parting and agreeing to postpone the results until Danny returned with Sam, the trio taking the Specter Speeder into the Ghost Zone as he huffed. "This is pointless. We don't even know if Sam is IN the Ghost Zone!" The Speeder countered that as it spoke up.

"Real World Item detected." They glanced to an image of Sam as Cedric pointed out.

"It must be her watch."

"And now we do." The Speeder headed in a direction and they gasped to the size of the door there as Cedric spoke.

"That must be one of the domains of the Ghost Zone, the Kingdom of Aragon."

"Wait, how do you know, Cedric?"

"I researched..." They passed through as Cedric continued. "And we should be lucky that technology got us this far."

"Good old-fashion technology." But the Speeder shut down and they dropped like a rock as Danny asked.

"The times here are frozen in the medieval ages and any tech shuts down because of it?"

"Yep..." They glanced to Tucker as they spoke as one.

"You are an idiot here." They skidded across the waters of the river before crashing in the woods, Cedric still conscious as he made to shift to a comfortable spot to recover a bit more, his armor receding and encasing again to his smile, tech doesn't work, but anything ecto-plasmic powered just gave him free range.

Back up at the Castle, Sam winced as a glass slipper was put on.

"OW!" She breathed before asking Dora bout the whole thing. "Why does the prince want to marry a human anyway?" Dora answered it.

"My brother wants to possess that which no-one else has, a human bride. That's why he forced me to make your friend friend the judge, surely a half-ghost would select the perfect human bride." Sam exclaimed with standing up on the glass slippers.

"You got to be kidding. That makes about as much sense as..." The glass slipper didn't stand for it any more and shattered as Dora huffed with broom and dust pan somehow.

"Glass slippers?" She sighed in swooping the pieces up. "I know." He reached the door and glared at Sam. "But the prince always gets what he wants." She left the room as Sam huffed.

"Oh really?" She glanced to the table and beamed as she found the ink. "Then I'll just have to be what he doesn't want." She reached for the ink before something else stopped her, the room growing humid as a voice echoed in her mind and she dropped to the ground gripping her head, the green pulsing under her sleeve.

"At lASt!" The trio of boys shook themselves awake as Tucker inquired.

"What... happened?" Danny glanced back to Tucker as he answered, having heard Cedric explain that the Exorcist is unaffected by the realm as it is not powered by modern tech, but by ecto-energy.

"The ship just stopped working, just like Cedric said." Tucker held up his PDA as he moaned.

"My PDA too! What is this place, some kind of tech-free zone?" Danny spotted a poster and tore it off the tree as he exclaimed.

"Oh man, we've got bigger problems!" Back at the castle, Sam groaned as the air was somehow killing her, gripping her chest as the voice continued.

"afTER AlL THIS tiMe, MY pOwEr Has FOunD aN HeIr." The dress started to tear apart as Sam whined in pain, the room changing as her body was summoning something and the outside of the castle saw a current of vines and plants surged up and through the tower before finding her as she plead.

"What... the heck is..."

"DEnyIng yOUR BirtHRIGht, ChilD, IT maTTErs liTTlE, YOU haVe NO conTRoL, NOt In a FIRst AwaKENinG." She tried to find her voice before it was too late, she screamed and the plants surged, all of the ghosts yelping and running as the castle shook to the frenzy of pants and growth, Aragon himself howled as the forces and peasants shattered to the onslaught.

"What is going on in my kingdom, who dares attack this place!" Dora stumbled on her way to Sam to find out where this power of plants was coming from as she caught sight of her brother enraged, transform into his black dragon form and besiege the plants to destroy them, but they drove him out and bashed him for each step he tried to take before she arrived and she gasped, Sam was in misery as she glanced to Dora, but only one eye was still violet and dripping with tears, the other was an orb of green and a figure started to shift from the vines and roots in the room as Dora cupped her mouth in disbelief and shock.

"Oh, Ancients... Not here, not now...!" She bolted away as the figure laughed with heart as Danny, Cedric and Tucker made trek before the whole ground shook and they exclaimed.

"What was...!"

"What the...!"

"That wasn't me...!"

"Cedric, Danny, Tucker!" They looked up as Topaz and Talia arrived, Talia landing before rushing into Cedric's arms as he exclaimed.

"Talia, what's going on, what is...!"

"It's bad, VERY bad." Topaz answered as she landed and breathed, hand to her chest as she tried to pace herself. "We were in the castle, trying to figure out a way to get Sam out of there, despite the crown only being able to be removed by the blood of Aragon, when the whole place shook, we heard Sam scream, but we couldn't get to her in time when the town, the castle, everything there was consumed in roots and plants." Their eyes widened and they took off to the castle to see it being covered in plants before Danny exclaimed.

"Uh, guys, what is that?" They turned to where he was pointing and sure enough, something was forming from the plants fighting a back dragon, slow, but it was sure as Talia stumbled back in surprise and shock.

"N-No, it's impossible... he was banished, removed from his power!"

"Talia! TALIA!" Cedric exclaimed as the Demi looked at him as he shouted. "What is that, exactly!?"

"That... that..." She gripped onto Cedric, Topaz even surprised as there was a look of pure terror in her eyes. "That is Pariah's Master of the Lands, his creation to create beings equal to that of the Ancients when he arose to power, that is Undergrowth!"

"Undergrowth!?" Topaz exclaimed as the figure fought the black dragon in the skies. "I thought that Undergrowth was a kiddy ghost's story, to scare ghosts into slumber in their own homes!?"

"No... he is real, real and a monster." Cedric rubbed her back and she breathed easier in the medieval garb. "...Undergrowth is known as the Dark Master of the Lands, Pariah created his essence to be that of the ground so that no resistance would come from the land or underground to strike at him. He devotes himself to being the master of all life and that is all of the plants that we have come to know, it covers the world as trees, grass, plants, all living plant life." Indeed, the trees started to gain more life form the dead bark as Talia spoke once more. "I just... don't understand, he was banished by the Ancients to never haunt the realms of the Infinite Realms again, how is he here now!?" Cedric looked before he gripped tight and answered.

"Because he isn't..." All looked at him as he spoke, releasing Talia and stopping to look at the battle and the plants forming and reforming. "It must be... It has to be..." He nodded as he turned to the members. "Come on, we need to hit up the castle, my theory will be wrong if we don't check it out!"

"You want us to go in there!?" Topaz shouted and Cedric nodded before she gave in and nodded. "Got it, I'm not happy about going, but we don't have much to lose here." Talia regained her focus and nodded as well.

"Yes, this couldn't be the real figure, it must be some form of echo, we must find the source of its power."

"Let's not forget Sam, she is still trapped in there."

"Of course we will." Five bolted in, Danny and Tucker getting some armor on to protect them a bit better before they started to blaze through the thicket and plants, ghosts paying them little heed as they pressed on, Talia leading the way.

"This way, Sam was brought to the moot tower to await her arrangement." But they were halted as more covered the passages and Cedric grimaced.

"We can clear this out, but how are we going to help Sam, what even set this off?"

"The tiara..." All froze and turned to Dorathea floating there, having spotted them and followed as she spoke. "The tiara is a one-way portal into the Ghost Zone and it binds the one wearing it to the eldest of the Aragon bloodline, but I didn't realize that something else was awakened."

"I don't think any of us expected this to happen, Dorathea." Cedric answered, Danny wary of Dora since it was likely she was the one hosting the contest. "We need to find her and undo this before anymore gets out of hand, I take it your brother is the one getting his butt kicked out there."

"Indeed." She nodded as she spoke once more. "We must hurry, who knows what damages will remain if we linger anymore." They rushed to the room burned away the plants to find Sam, silently screaming as it seemed like the green was taking over before the pair of Danny and Cedric rushed over, Danny gripping her right arm while Cedric had her left.

Talia turned to Dorathea and inquired. "Can't you remove the tiara, your brother is out there and I know we can't depend on him, don't you have the same power as him, a princess is much more than smiling, looking pretty, and living happily ever after." Dora frowned as she took her amulet in hand. "Your brother has ruled this realm with an iron hand, shouldn't you make a change, make it better, no one wants to remain under the sway of darkness."

"True, we do share the same power..." The thought entered and stayed as she exclaimed. "Which means I should be able to do..." She rushed over before gripping the tiara. "THIS!" She started to pull as the skull cracked before she pulled it free and Sam gasped as the figure shouted.

"NoooOOOOoooo!" The plants started to recede and Sam toppled, her clothing changed to a black dress with violet highlights, a green-violet leotard underneath it before he eyes fluttered to life, one violet pupil and one lime-green pupil as she whispered.

"Danny...?"

"Shush, it's okay, Sam, you're okay..." She dozed off as Aragon recovered and roared, spotting the group on the town.

"THAT IS MY BRIDE YOU TOUCH, MONGREL!" Cedric was the first to react to the charging dragon as he took flight and punched the side of the incoming beast, knocking it aside and into the woods as he shouted.

"Then perhaps it is time that SOMEONE dethrone you!" He took the fight to the beast as the party gathered around Sam, Topaz holding a flame to her, Talia hold a wind to her, and Danny's touch was like ice as Dorathea spoke.

"It would seem that power drained it too much, she will need to be healed carefully and that means that none of you will be able to move from this point."

"Then what are we going to do about Aragon?" Dora wore a determined look as she spoke.

"I think it is time that this princess to stop dreaming and starting doing!" She leapt out of the window to let her amulet empower her into her dragon form and took flight to fight her brother, Cedric crashing, getting pinning as Aragon exclaimed.

"You maggot, your death will be slow and painful!" He made to chomp Cedric before a blast of fire knocked him to the side as Dora arrived, he exclaimed in rage. "DORA, YOU IMBECILE! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

"What I should have done ages ago!" She blasted him again and landed as she started to rant. "Sixteen hundred years of doing your bidding! Sixteen hundred years of suffering your insults! Sixteen hundred years of...!" Her jaw was clasped shut as Aragon emerged form the fires to yell, Cedric breathed before he channeled his power again.

"Those fools that dared to steal my bride has been filling your head with their modern ideas! You think that I will...!"

"YEAH!" Both turned as a empowered fist clashed with Aragon's face as the form of energy Cedric used, but now towered on equal ground as them. "YOU WILL BEND, THIS REALM HAS SEEN ENOUGH OF YOUR GREED AND YOUR WRATH!" Aragon growled before he gasped, in the center of the being was a cog with the initials of 'CW'.

"Th-That emblem! Impossible! Clockwork would never...!" His throat was grabbed and the being lifted as he continued.

"CLOCKWORK ISN'T HERE, YOU FACE THE ARCHON!" He tossed and clapped, dazing the dragon before ripping the amulet off, reverting him back to normal as Dora took flight and circled before she spoke, taking the flames away from the landscape that he had destroyed.

"I think it's time we took this realm out of the dark ages." The Archon dropped Aragon onto the ground as Dorathea blazed away the darkened skies as the party looked up to the light steaming through as he yelped.

"What is that?"

"Time moving forward and you have a lot of catching up to do." Danny answered as they gathered themselves and headed out, even saving some ghostly ladies in waiting from suffering the Foley. Dorathea watched as the Specter Speeder headed out while her brother was locked up for now, her thoughts went elsewhere and she personally made a letter for Clockwork as she pondered something.

'Lord Clockwork, I have reason to believe that Undergrowth is alive somewhere and I ask that we take the proper measures to stop him, also we must find his counterpart as well before they do more damage...'

* * *

The pageant was back underway as Danny spoke. "I would like to announce the Miss Teenage Happy Princess Winner, many of you thought I chose Sam, but that is false, I apologize for that." He cleared his throat before reading the results. "And thus, the princess of our contest is...!" He gasped and everyone looked to him in surprise as he spoke. "I don't believe this upset, Star Strong is the winner of the contest by ONE point!" All gasped as Star was also in shock, Paulina just the same as she shouted.

"How... how is that possible!?"

"I don't know, Cedric was making the point system and Paulina is at thirty four while Star is at thirty five." All cheered in awe as well as the other members of the contest, even Paulina, before Danny added. "But, wait, Cedric also left a message for the winner." He cleared his throat as he spoke again to their attention. "For any girl wanting to take the crown, even in last place, for a single day, all they must do is 'destroy' the five point target." They looked confused before Danny finished. "And the target's identity is..." He unfolded the paper and raised it high in the air. "Tucker Foley!"

"WHAT!?" The African techie grimaced at the red-eyed demons glancing back at him as Danny finished reading.

"From Sunday to Saturday, for two weeks, Tucker Foley will be assigned five points to be taken down, he can only be taken down ONCE and he MUST admit it publicly, so..." Danny smirked as Tucker's cool guy act was now getting its payback. "I suggest you start running, Tucker."

"DUDE!" He yelped as they took after him and Danny folded the parchment, swiftly putting the crown on Star before turning to Sam as she asked.

"Want to get a double veggie-veggie at the Nasty Burger?"

"My treat, Sam, let's go, Tucker is going to 'pay for his misconduct as a 'wing-man of a judge'. So yeah." His screams echoed into the night as the pair headed off, the new vine tattoo pulsing softly with Sam's new green eye, what a tale to talk about now at Fenton Works...


	35. S2 - King Tuck

It should have been a surprise that soon after the whole Prince Aragon fiasco that it was a campaign run for student council president, but it really wasn't for anyone involved as the members running for the office were Dash and... Tucker as the geek tried to get people to vote for him. "If elected, I promise to…" But no one stopped to agree or remark as Tucker continued his campaigning. "Can I scan your vote? Digitize your yes for Tucker?" He PDA printed and it ripped it out to toss to a student, who then crumbled it and walked away as Tucker sighed. "How can I run a campaign for student council president when nobody's listening to me?"

"What was that? Did you say something?" Even though Cedric, Talia, and Topaz were part of handing out posters and the like, they weren't exactly helping in keeping attention on Tucker as much as Danny as Tucker groaned before Sam spoke up to Tucker getting some distance.

"You're just going about this the wrong way, Tucker."

"Yeah, your campaign is all about victory through technology and the triumph of machine over man. It's kinda creepy."

"As much as I too want to advance a bit of tech around here, we are not exactly looking for Webnet here."

"I love that movie, actually, the recent ones were getting weird though." Topaz answered as Talia shook her head.

"Machine is not meant to replace man, though, it is to lighten his burden.

"So we changed your lame official campaign platform." Tucker took the paper offered to him as he read out a few.

"Grafitti art classes?" No brain who was behind that as the members glanced to Sam who, to her credit, looked embarrassed by their glances. "Rage against the PTA meetings?" She looked flustered as they glared at her before the final one. "Mini skirt Fridays? Okay. That's good."

"Yeah. That was my change to it, I love my girls, but I had to think of something you would do." Sam and Topaz gave a fifty-fifty gesture as Tucker recovered to exclaim.

"But it's not what I told you to write. I wanna have my voice heard, not yours."

"Okay. Okay. Your voice coming up."

"Thank you." Tucker went back to trying to promote his platform. "Hi, I'm Tucker." But the girl just walked past before he exclaimed. "And what's it take to get listened to around here?!" Sadly, that is due to the other platform as Dash called out to everyone.

"Hey, everybody. Gather round or the football team will pound ya. The theme of my campaign is who cares what Foley has to say." That didn't get a reaction before he pounded his fist into his palm again and the crowd went wild before Tucker gasped to a tongue licking him and he rushing over to the band as he exclaimed.

"Danny, listen...!"

"Not now. I'm busy writing in your voice. Would Tucker say it like that?"

"But-"

"A little more nerd and a little less suave." As fortune had it, the ghost sense went off and all turned to find a one-eyes iguana rampage across the campus before Danny made to change.

"I'm going gho-" He didn't get the chance before the bipedal ghost smashed the tree and launched Danny away as the five headed over to Danny to take cover as the lizard stomped before Sam mused to the creature attack.

"Wow. I never saw that coming."

"I did." Tucker grumbled as Danny countered, having not gotten his legs trapped under the trunk.

"Well, geez, Tuck, why didn't you say something?" It would have been apparent, but he didn't say a thing in fear and now he was holding resentment toward his friends for not getting his back, that also allowed something else to come into play...

* * *

The issue with the lizard was handled rather well, but the trip to the museum where a new Egyptian showcase was being made was not really as Lancer lectured about it. "The treasures of the Pharaoh Duul Aman, which you see before you, date back over four thousand years." Tucker tried to make it out as a joke.

"Duul Aman? As in man, is this dull?" No one laughed at that as Tucker slumped with musing to himself. "This action is being quite harsh." Dash then tried.

"Hey. Is that Duul Aman? As in man, is this dull?" No one laughed before Dash pulled out the jock vote and they laughed as Danny mused to the band.

"The way I see it, Tucker has to take the jock vote away from Dash."

"Right. While not alienating his social misfit slash geek base."

"Here's an idea. How about you let me make my own decisions and listen to me when I talk to you?" But they didn't hear him past looking at him and walking passed him as Tucker continued as he tried to get their attention. "Oh, come on. At least look at me."

"We are." He gasped and walked over to Lancer gesturing to an image on the wall.

"Behold. King Duul Aman." It was... his face, in pharaoh attire, but still somehow sporting specs as Tucker mused in amaze.

"Now that is one snappy looking dude."

"Wow, Tucker. You look like a king."

"The likeness is so real, I could barely split the two apart." Topaz answered with wide eyes as Talia nodded with Cedric before Lancer continued in gesturing to a scepter in a glass case.

"The King's scarab scepter. The secrets of its dark magic are lost to the ages." It was an impressive piece of rulership as Lancer then stopped at a large sarcophagus. "The mummified remains of the pharaoh's minion Hotep Ra. Ancient legend holds that he will hold when the pharaoh's image reflects anew in his sacred mirror." Tucker was still amazed as Kwan walked over to him.

"Hey. Why don't you look in the mirror, Foley. Either you'll get a minion, or another zit on your forehead." The party glared at him as he spoke. "What, it was a suggestion."

"If that thing opens up, we are putting you under house arrest, Kwan." Cedric answered as Kwan nodded, but they were ignored as Tucker looked at it and looked for a zit.

"What zit? I don't see a-" Suddenly, the thing shook and rumbled before erupting in a burst of energy as the other students had headed off prior before the seven of them were launched as Tucker exclaimed. "A mummy ghost?" From the opening of the case, came a mummified figure of Egyptian origins before both Talia and Cedric smacked Kwan across his skull as both spoke.

"Under house arrest...!"

"Can we make it two days, please?" Kwan pleaded with holding up a pair of fingers to the members' glare before both nodded and he breathed easy as the minion known as Hotep Ra spoke.

"I am risen!"

"And you're going down." Danny answered back as the four changed form, to three Demis in ghost form and the Iron Exorcist before charging as the mummy hurled his sarcophagus at them, Danny quickly putting up a barrier that broke the case and trapped Sam under one piece before the heroic Danny flew over as he exclaimed. "Sam?"

"Danny?" Hotep wasn't going to let them get her out as he exclaimed.

"Time for this mummy to cry uncle." But he was not ready for the sandstorm and getting hurled out of it as Talia wrested with the sand before getting tossed as well, Ember couldn't even glass the ghost without getting tossed as well, Danny catching her as she spoke.

"I heard of the sandstorm before..." She coughed up some sand before continuing. "...But I thought it was just a upbeat music video." They didn't get the chance to attack again before Hotep caught them, pinning them together and raised a foot to crush them before Tucker shouted.

"Leave them alone."

"Who dares order Hotep Ra to-" The mummy stopped with a gasp as Tucker jumped out from behind the stone tablet before he retracted his arms and walked over to the geek as he took a knee and to bow as he spoke. "Your humble servant hears and obeys, oh great one. Your dynasty begins anew, my pharaoh!"

"I'm a pharaoh? I have a minion?" Tucker beamed as he made to make his first command. "Who will hear and obey?" Danny, on the other hand, didn't let it happened as he blasted Hotep through a wall and Tucker exclaimed. "Dude, you toasted my minion." Danny answered back as he reverted.

"Trust me. It's for your own good." They made to walk over before Sam spoke up.

"Guys. I like a good coffin as much as the next goth, but the novelty is wearing thin." They stopped and nodded as they helped get Sam out of there as Cedric spoke to Tucker.

"Tucker, you shouldn't be happy about having a minion, what if Hotep was hiding under false pretenses, we don't want you to suffer a betrayal like that, it is just like what happened with Talia's powers being granted to you."

"I... I mean, yeah, but..."

"With this campaign, you want people to listen?" Tucker nodded sadly as Cedric rested a hand on his shoulder as the seven of them headed out, Kwan staying to see what went down and was both in trouble for making another ghost appear and amazed that Tucker Foley now had some ancient ghost as a minion now, that was prime...

* * *

They headed down the sidewalk, a difference being that Tucker was lacking his book bag before he gasped to what was posted nearby, him holding a poor report chart as he grumbled. "You can't spell Foley without F? Who came up with that?"

"Danny and me." Sam beamed, her powers not yet tested to be helpful in combat or otherwise, in case of what happened at Aragon's realm would cause an echo as Danny joined.

"Yeah." He chuckled as he continued. "It's your new election campaign. You like it?"

"No! It's not the slogan I told you I wanted."

"But it appeals to the idiot fringe. Do you want the jock vote or not?" Sam asked before Tucker yelled at them, Talia and Cedric standing on Tucker's side while Topaz was with the other two as a trio.

"What I want is for you to listen to me. Can you do that?"

"Take it easy, Tuck. We're just trying to help."

"Great. Why don't you start by taking down those stupid posters."

"Okay. Okay. Relax." Danny glanced to Cedric and he nodded as the trio headed off to remove the posters, Talia's sense going off as Hotep arrived from the ground before conjuring a book bag and approaching Tucker as he huffed.

"You're late."

"And I am sorry. But I told you they wouldn't listen to you, my liege."

"Looks like you were right. They don't seem to get the listening concept." He glanced to the two beside him as he continued. "Except for you two, you listen to me, right?"

"We try to look out for you and we don't mean to intrude on your newfound position."

"We are both friend and guide, you just need to take a moment to understand it at times." Tucker nodded as he turned to Hotep.

"You got grapes in there?" Hotep reached in with pulling out a bunch of grapes before offering them to Tucker, who was being bitter to the duo that are his friends, consumed a decent amount as Hotep mused in answering.

"I assure you, you will have no such problem with me. My loyalty knows no bounds."

"Duly noted." He glanced to the pair and they nodded as he turned back to Hotep. "Care to give me a lift to school, being around here is getting on my nerves right now." With that, Hotep picked him up and flew as Danny huffed as the last of the posters were taken down there.

"There. They're down. Happy now, your highness?" The trio stopped to only find Talia and Cedric as Danny mused. "Tucker?" He stopped and glared at the pair as he asked. "Got his new minion to give him a lift?"

"You're kind of the one who didn't put Hotep Ra in the Thermos, so yes, Foley had his new minion a lift." The trio raised their arms in disbelief before Topaz huffed.

"What's next, he is going to rule the school in bandages?"

"Chance for that is slim, but we did warn Tucker to be at least wary of Ra, as long as you guys also give him your ear." They glanced to the other as Tucker and Ra arrived.

"Better let me down here Ra. We don't want anyone to see you." Ra landed and offered up the pack as Tucker beamed. "See? I ask for something and it happens. Is that so hard?"

"Not for me, my liege. But why hide me? What have you to fear? You are royalty." Tucker hummed at that fact, it was true that his face allowed him to control Ra a bit, but was Tucker really royalty as he inquired.

"I am?"

"Yes. And with my help. All of this shall be your domain. This poorly funded educational center. Hazah!" Tucker hummed as that sounded quite promising, but his notions of tricks from Ra slipped away as he spotted his posters being covered up by Dash's as he growled.

"I'm not going to get to be master of this domain with those jerks covering my posters."

"Shall I smite them for you?"

"Maybe not smite." If Hotep was able to control a great deal of things, then there was one thing that would be a real threat as the pair yelped to a swarm of locusts charging them before reforming back into Hotep as Tucker mused. "Locusts. Now that's old school. You're pretty mean with a plague." He paused to dust himself off as Ra was quite unclean, maybe it was just the time spent in the case. "You know, a guy could get used to having a minion." Tucker made to walk off as Ra started to speak to himself.

"Do not get too used to it, my king." He opened up his bandages to pull out the Scarab Scepter as he voiced. "For very soon, you and everyone else will be my minions." What he didn't expect was Tucker as he swiftly dashed over, taking the Scepter with a snatch.

"I KNEW IT!" Ra raised his hands in surprise and plead as Tucker unloaded, tapping into something left behind and empowered by the Scepter. "You were planning to betray me all along, I should have known!"

"M-My king, please!" Tucker lashed out and turned Hotep into a pin and picked him up with anger, the ghost at his mercy before he hummed with grief.

"You know, I could have understood all of it, if only you spoke to me..." Hotep stopped as Tucker continued, sitting against a tree and humming. "I get that I have the face of Duul Aman, I get that I could be commanding the whole school by now if I wanted to, but I have been hanging around Cedric lately and I have... been having doubts about myself, most of my friends have powerful abilities while I'm... just me, just Tucker Foley, a geek in the end and no one of great meaning." Ra paused to Tucker's spiel as he continued. "He didn't treat you right, did he, he treated you like you were low and you rose up to oust him, didn't you...?"

"A mortal trying to understand the dead's desire, how foolish you are, child." But Ra felt... shame, he was ashamed that here was the face of Duul Aman, but not his actions as he turned back around in the pin. "Duul is many things, but he was a selfish child, he wanted the world at his tips and I wanted to do things my way."

"Differing opinions, I get it..." Tucker stood back up and waved the scepter, reverting Ra back to normal as he returned the scepter. "Keep this safe until I actually need it, I have to get going and see what I can change before I NEED to resort to using the scepter." With that, Tucker walked off, the ghost completely confused as he slipped the scepter back in and rubbed his head.

"Duul would never just give the Scepter back, he would cling to it like an infant to sweets." He hummed before he snapped with a bit more understanding of Foley. "I am starting to like this one, maybe ruling the lands isn't in the fates' plans here..." With that, Ra shadowed Tucker's moves before they conversed again in the halls as Tucker, surprised, recovered to speak to him.

"What's up, Ra?"

"Your rise to sovereignty. I bear a gift to help you achieve it."

"The Scarab Scepter? But do you really think I am worthy to hold that which belongs to King Duul Aman?"

"To whom I humbly present it. Use it in good health, my Pharaoh." Tucker took it and felt different as he lightly got the notion that he was in a haze, his mind clashing with another, a spoiled child that lost again as Sam spoke up.

"Tucker. There you are." He frowned as he closed the locker to the trio walking over with Talia and Cedric arriving as well, noticing the slight change near the eyes as Danny spoke.

"We got your talking points for the debate."

"Keep them. I no longer require your meddling advice." Tucker answered in smacking the cards away as Sam just realized what he was now holding.

"Hey, that's the scepter from the museum. How'd you get it?"

"Why should I explain to you how I acquired what is rightfully mine?" Tucker growled as Danny questioned.

"Yours? Tucker, I-I don't like this. You have to listen to me."

"As you listened to me? Or you?"

"Is he letting the scepter control his voice?" Talia asked as Cedric answered back.

"I think that whatever is INSIDE the scepter is actively motivating him, Ra was the servant, but what if, whatever dark magics the Scepter possesses, also allowed a hint of Duul Aman to flow through, I don't think Ra would even notice as the energy needs a mortal body to do it and one off-guard." She nodded as Danny tried in vain.

"Tucker."

"Did you hear me? The scepter is mine. Now stand aside or face my wrath." He pushed past them as he head for the auditorium as Topaz questioned.

"Am I the only one who was getting vibes of mind-control in play here?"

"It is possible, Topaz." Cedric answered back as they looked back to the room before heading over. The room was not quiet for the debate which was not good as the five took their seats as Sam inquired with Cedric.

"So how badly is this going to end?"

"First up with opening statements is Tucker Foley."

"Poorly." Cedric answered as if Tucker was first and no one wanted to listen he could draw upon the Scepter's power to take control, as Tucker took the mic.

"Thank you, mortal fool." That didn't sound right as Tucker spoke to Lancer waking away, suspecting that something had happened yesterday that was a concern. "At the museum the other day we saw a glimpse of the past. But now I wish to talk about the future." Suddenly, he started to hear sounds all around, drowning out his voice as he exclaimed. "Hey I'm talking here. Listen." But not a one was listening as Ra beamed from being invisible behind Tucker.

"Yes. Let the scepter take you."

"I. Said. Silence!" Tucker shouted with smashing the mic stand with unbelievable force, stopping the chatter short as Cedric counted on his fingers before Ra appeared and everyone gasped as Lancer exclaimed.

"Antony and Cleopatra!"

"I'm tired of not being listened to. Of not being respected."

"Um, I think that's your cue." Sam exclaimed to Danny while the two supporters reached under their clothing and adjusted something as Danny ducked down and turned into Phantom before bolting for the scepter as he demanded.

"Give me that scepter now."

"No. It's mine. Let go."

"Tucker."

"You're still not listening to me." With a surge, the whole place changed to a arena as Danny groaned before he found that he was the rider in a chariot and tied to it as he exclaimed.

"Tucker? Sam? Cedric? Talia? Topaz?" He glanced forward and grimaced as a gladiator came charging for him, but he would not be alone in that strange place as outside for now, Tucker had just destroyed Phantom as he exclaimed.

"And let that serve as a warning. To all of you." He slammed the ground to a ring of blue flames as Topaz uneasily chuckled before she glanced to the prepared pair.

"So, uh... any other vests?"

"Properly, no; Sorry, Topaz." Talia beamed as she waved. "But don't worry, we will all handle it soon." She grimaced as the whole school was enveloped before turning into a Egyptian landscape, ghostly servants building a sphinx of Tucker's facage as the members came to, all wearing dresses or kilts of linen, even Sam was not spared as she was certainly looking the part before the crowd in the distance bowed in calling out.

"All hail Pharaoh." Sam turned with a gasp as Tucker now looked the part of a pharaoh, she just glad that Valerie wasn't here as well as Tucker exclaimed.

"From now on, this is my world. And my word is law." He raised the scepter and called down lightning from the clouds above, sending fear through them all as he mused. "I guess you'll listen to me now."

"Tucker please, this is wrong. But the clothes are pretty rad."

"Stand down, Samantha!" Sam took offence to that as Topaz, in the same attire, grimaced as Sam shouted.

"Samantha? Nobody calls me that!" Topaz rushed over and had a hard time stopping her before two guards barred their way and Sam yielded. "Except, you." Ra commanded as an extension of Tucker's new power.

"Guards. Put these drones to work on the Sphinx." With that, the whole audience was pulled away as Ra spoke to Tucker. "Once finished, it will herald the dawning of your new dynasty."

"This pleases me."

"Ah. Then you'll love what else we have for you. Even as we speak, two warriors battle for the honor of being presented before you." Danny was having a bit of trouble, in the arena, as his foe swung at him and got a good hit in as he mumbled to himself.

"I'll have to remember this if I ever do a report on the history of road rage." The gladiator came back to tear the wheel apart, slowing Danny down, but he easily broke his bindings with that before he leapt for his foe, both grimacing before they ran into a wall. Back at the Sphinx, the members worked to assemble the beast as Lancer was well out of his zone.

"Myth of Sisyphus." And thus goes him with a block pushing him down as Dash and Kwan worked with lifting bricks, FAR heavier than what they are usually able to work with.

"Doing manual labor for a geek we used to make fun of. This isn't supposed to happen until we're like, 30!"

"Dude, I don't think we'll even make it to thirty. We're doomed!" Sam answered with bearing a bowl of water to swoop and pouring it on the member overheating.

"Trust me, I can tell you from experience we're nowhere near doomed. We just have to bide our time until we can figure a way out of this." She worked as she pondered where the heck was Cedric and Talia while she and Topaz were splashing water while Tucker was getting his feet cleaned by the two popular girls as he commanded.

"Henceforth, all in the realm shall eat nothing but meat. And all citizens must wear red berets, including you hand maidens." Both bolted up as Star stated to what was going on.

"He's clearly under a spell."

"I don't care if he's under some spell. He dies for this." Paulina hissed as she glared at him. "Have you even heard of nail clippers?"

"Any other edicts, my king?" The Anubis creature inquired as Tucker spoke.

"Yes. Mini skirt Fridays. It's a good idea and its time has come." He paused with waving the girls forward before he turned to glare at the Anubis, the scribe grimacing as he spoke. "Ridiculous as they are, scribe, I would like to have some childish edicts done before I start with the greater tasks, I expect a colossus of bronze to stand as a monument of both my reign and in the image of Hotep Ra's image, he is my second and he DESERVES the image, people need to respect him as much as me here." Tucker answered with going as the Anubis spoke to Ra with the rolled up edicts.

"What shall I do about these ridiculous laws?"

"Oh, you heard him, implement them. Let the child have his moment of amuse." Ra answered with looking out to the Sphinx. "Once the Sphinx is completed and I have the scepter once more, this realm shall be mine." Time ticked on as the edicts were made and all did so before the Sphinx was close to being completed as the members arrived to Ra's exclaim. "It's almost finished, my Pharaoh. A true monument to your glory." A chariot arrived with the armor of the gladiator, but something was very... different as Ra continued. "And behold. This masked champion has returned from the field of honor. Having vanquished the ghost boy in battle." It leapt off, but no one STILL spoke to its difference as Same exclaimed.

"What? Ghost boy? Where is he? What did you do to him?" Ra snapped and Sam was hauled away from the gladiator as she exclaimed. "Let me go! Tucker! Tell them to let me go!"

"Woman. You. Will. Be. Silent!"

"No, you di-" But she was bound up as Tucker turned to the gladiator in praise.

"Congratulations warrior, on defeating your ghostly opponent. How did you accomplish that?"

"I just had the advantage of surprise." The voice echoed before Danny Phantom jumped out of the armor and swiped the Scepter out of Tucker's hands, shattering the control that the former pharaoh had on him. "Like I do now."

"Where am I? What have I done? And why is everyone wearing a red beret except you?" Tucker blinked before he palmed himself. "Oh great, Duul was influencing me."

"Long story, and it's not over yet." Chaos reigned as Ra exclaimed.

"He has the scepter. Seize him!"

"By the dunes, you will not harm that man!" A sandstorm tore through, launching the ghostly guards away as it reformed as a Arabian warrioress and from the sky came her companion, clad in Roman armor, his eyes pierced like the ocean depths as more arrived to attack.

"Peace is not the answer in this battle, we stand to thwart you here!" Ra, on the otherwise, fired at Danny and took the Scepter when the heroic teen had taken flight before blasting the Sphinx, bringing it to life to crush Danny and the duo before they blasted at it and found it was immune to the blasts before Danny pulled his trump.

"Oh great. That thing's as hard headed as Tucker was." He unleashed the Wail, but it wasn't able to be brought down before he topple and was launched to one of the pyramids, while the other two fought it to a standstill as Tucker ran for it to get some distance as Ra exclaimed.

"Don't let him get away." The guards gave chase as Ra brought some of the hieroglyphs to live to attack Danny as Tucker exclaimed to the scorpion and bird paying for taking on Danny.

"Danny! Help!" The doberman was a bit harder in it was trying to take the lower half of his jumpsuit, but Danny recovered to blast it as Ra, his guards not succeeding, took matters into his own hands.

"I guess I'll have to take care of the Pharaoh myself." He took off as Tucker exclaimed.

"Somebody help me!" Hotep Ra nearly had Tucker, but Sam, Paulina, and Topaz were quick in snatching a piece of bandage and pulling it, unraveling Hotep Ra to a weathered husk who, for a moment, tried to cover himself up before he dissolved into dust before Tucker made a run for the Scepter before Ra reformed to his exclaim.

"I am risen!" Tucker came to a stop as he inquired.

"Do you say that every time you wake up?"

"Sphinx." The beast turned to Ra as Danny exclaimed.

"Uh oh."

"Finish this." Ra commanded with blasting the forehead and the beast attacked as it launched Danny, the warrioress and soldier bolting to get him back up as Paulina exclaimed, using his common name to keep from revealing the truth.

"Ghost boy. Do something, ghost boy."

"I can't. Too powerful."

"Okay. Now we're doomed." Danny recovered as he thought of something that could work as he worked along with it.

"We do have one shot at this. Tucker, right?" He got up in stepping over to Tucker as he spoke. "You've got to talk to that thing. Command it to stop."

"Me? Are you nuts? The scepter controls it."

"Maybe. Or maybe it's loyal to the king and for now, that's you. It might listen to you." Tucker huffed back as he pointed out.

"Somebody should have." He said with crossed arms as Danny did so.

"I know. And I'm sorry." Tucker looked before he beamed and breathed.

"Well, here goes nothing." He trembled before the great stone construct, it roaring at him before he spoke. "Uh, heel?" He flinched before the red eyes of the Sphinx turned blue and it did as it was asked as it came to a heel as Ra exclaimed.

"What? No! Sphinx, destroy him!" He blasted and the Sphinx growled at Tucker, but he had command as he exclaimed, his voice and will overpowering the Scepter's control.

"Hello? King talking here. Be still, my Sphinx. Lay down." The beast did so as Ra exclaimed in disbelief, somehow the power he commanded was lost on the greatest weapon before them.

"How is this possible? I control the scepter!" Danny bolted over to snatch it away as he voiced back.

"Not anymore, dusty." He came back around to deliver a punch to the face and send him skidding to Tucker as he grimaced in plead.

"Shall I, uh, grape you, my liege? O-or smite thy foes?"

"As tempting as that is, I need to set a example, too bad for you." Tucker spoke as he spoke again, to the Sphinx and giving Hotep Ra a running start. "Sphinxy, sic him." He screamed as the Sphinx gave chase as it tore through the city made, destroying it all as Danny mused in surprise.

"Well, now I know why they call these things ruins."

"Nice work Tucker." Sam beamed as Tucker pulled one last stance.

"Thanks, woman." Sam narrowed her brows as Tucker answered. "Aw, come on. Kidding."

"I gotta admit, it was pretty cool the way you got that Sphinx to listen to you without the scepter."

"Yeah, but I'm much more commanding with the scepter." He said as he took the scepter in hand as Danny called out.

"Tucker, no!" But he called upon the power of the scepter once more as he spoke.

"Which is why I say we all go back to the school debate. And nobody remembers this except me, Danny, Sam, heck all of the members of Team Phantom." He slammed it and the whole thing went back to normal as Danny chuckled.

"Nice one. I'll take this one."

"Mr. Fenton, Ms. Manson. Back to your seats. This is not a group debate."

"Give it to 'em Tuck. I gotta get this scepter back to the museum." Topaz blinked as she looked to her side to find Talia and Cedric giving her the okay symbol and she smiling as Sam and Danny came back for Danny to head out.

"Relax, it won't be long. Friends, classmates, and miscellaneous band geeks who I never associate with. I'm conceding the election to Dash. Somehow, being in charge just doesn't appeal to me much anymore."

"Well, I guess that's it then. Mr. Baxter, you win by default. Huzzah!"

"Yes! As my first law, I would like to propose nerd wailing Fridays, but I would also like to extend a jock study for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays as well." Tucker huffed as the trio got off stage.

"Couldn't he have said mini skirt instead? How hard is that?"

"Tucker, thanks for bailing us out. The Sphinx was a way better listener than Sam and I have been lately."

"We'll do a better job from now on."

"You know you really could." Tucker answered as he continued. "I get I am not much of a... awesome guy, but I do want to be heard in the very least." The pair listened to him as he brought up his flaws. "I know I try to be the cool guy, I know that I believe myself handsome, but above it all, I know I am a geek, my thoughts about tech have a great deal of merit." Both nodded as the crowd started to disband. "I mean, look at this stuff. It was handmade in Japan." That caught two girls' attention as they exclaimed.

"Did you said handmaiden?" Tucker turned and narrowed his brow as he spoke.

"No, I said the tech was handmade in Japan." He stopped and counted it out before he realized something. "Whoa, I am a horrible person, spell or not."

"Tucker?" Danny asked with scepter in hand as Tucker spoke.

"I have never actually heard of nail clippers before, I have never heard of many beauty products before, and I just had two girls washing my feet which was wrong, spell or not, I am beginning to rethink my WHOLE life choices..." He headed as Star pointed out, sure angry that she was part of the foot cleaning with Paulina, but was more confused with what just happened.

"Is Foley going to be okay...?"

"Honestly, Star, I have NO idea, he is not really easy to listen to at times." Danny answered as he headed out to return the scepter, no need worrying about Hotep Ra again for a while as any pocket dimension they encounter always ended up going to the Ghost Zone or otherwise...


	36. S2 - Masters of All Time

The day shined bright on Amity Park as the Nasty Burger was where the six friends were enjoying their time inside as Danny spoke. "Ah, Nasty Burger. Our safe haven away from the worries of-" That was cut short as Jazz burst in and exclaimed to them.

"Danny, Run!"

"Run, why Should I?" Jazz rushed over, but then came the sound, the noise, and the figures as both exclaimed with bursting into the fast food joint.

"Dude!" It was Jack and Maddie in 'hip-hop' 80's style clothing as the Nasty Burger laughed at the get-up as Jazz took cover by Sam as she spoke in ducking down, Topaz on the other side of Sam as the older sister slid in.

"If anyone asks, I'm related to you."

"Okay, but you're gonna have to be way less cheery."

"And green, don't forget the green." After the 'King Tuck' incident, Sam had been training a bit more with her powers, enough that she could easily hid her markings and revert her eye back to violet so her parents wouldn't go nuts, and Tuck got a robotic chimera from Cedric, in the fact that it could shift from a mechanical hound to a titanic scorpion and easily managed hawk, but they couldn't bring 'Ferdinand' along on account of... the 'Slushie incident' as both Fenton parents approached the tables.

"We're, like, totally late for 80's night at the Material Grill."

"But you, like, totally forgot your wallet, man." Maddie followed up from Jack's comment as she showed a wallet to the party as Danny took it with some minor thanks.

"Uh, thanks?"

"Don't mention it. We love ya, man." Danny was then subjected to a grizzy hug as he exclaimed to his sister.

"If I pass out, I give you permission to not resuscitate me." Jazz hid her face behind a menu as Jack beamed in his 80's getup before cracking up the tunes on the boombox on his shoulder.

"Come on, Maddie. Let's crank up the tunes and moonwalk outta here."

"Oh, just like our college days!" They somehow did the moonwalk out of there as Danny facepalmed to Topaz's comment.

"Cheer up, Baby-pop. I'm sure there's a couple of kids who didn't see that."

"Oh, this one's going straight to the internet!" Mike exclaimed with a camera in hand before Danny groaned.

"DAUH!" He got up to leave as the members called out to him.

"Danny! Wait!" Danny stomped out a side entrance of the Nasty Burger as he lightly growled with the friends behind him.

"Just once, I'd like to know what it's like to live in a normal family."

"Which you never will, so long as you're Jack Fenton's son." All looked to find Vald Plasmius on a light post as Danny spoke with some rage.

"Great, more weirdness from my parents's college days. What do you want with me this time, Plasmius?" Plasmius landed before he reverted back, the party exclaiming as Vlad's face was covered in acne as he spoke.

"Ugh, the ecto-acne; it's back. Please help me." They gasped to the state of Vlad as Sam exclaimed."

"Help you? Yeah, right."

"Why would he want to do that?" Topaz smacked Sam while Cedric actually smacked Tucker hard enough to cause him to actually flip before he spoke.

"Now is not the time for this, you guys." He dashed over with Talia as Vlad looked thankful for the helping hands. "This is not good, I think that the ecto-acne is killing his human side more and more, we NEED to start examinations about this, fast!"

"And I know who can help with that." Danny raised his fingers before the door was bashed down to Jack, Maddie, and Jazz as Jack exclaimed.

"Back off, ghost!" He blinked before he spoke. "Oh, Danny and friends, Vladdie too, I didn't mean..."

"You are forgiven, Mr. Fenton." The two demis and Cedric answered as Jack grimaced.

"Whoa. This is dangerous, we need to get you into quarantine!"

"We have an outbreak of ecto-acne. And there's only one place on Earth that knows how to treat ecto-acne."

"Please say hospital, please say hospital, please say hospital." But the hospital was the worse place to go to with such a effect, so they hit up Fentonworks with locking it all down as Danny grimaced in an actual hazmat suit with the others. "Why couldn't you say hospital?"

"Hey, everyone, he's awake." Vlad stirred back awake as he spoke.

"Ah, Maddie, I knew you wouldn't let me down. It's almost like you didn't have a choice. Well, almost, to be fair." Danny groaned, but he didn't stomp off as Jack exclaimed.

"Looking good, Vladdie!" The monitor spoke otherwise as Jack corrected himself to the falling vitals. "Who am I kidding? You're a goner." That was a bad sign as Danny asked.

"There has to be something we can do for him." Maddie sighed, however, as she spoke.

"I wish I could, Danny, but I still can't identify the ecto-impurities that are causing the lethal acne." All grimaced as Talia spoke amongst them.

"And you would have increased your odds if you had exposed Tucker to the same effects, tainting his flesh with the same would have also been killing him too."

"Indeed, but I decided against it, because I know I have a lot to make up for, but I am not going to be a cruel man about this." He panted as he continued. "Worse enough, if I can't be cured for this, I will die."

"Shoot..." Danny grimaced as he asked. "I wish we had something to work against this."

"My wishes could make it worse, Daniel, and I don't even know if it would work in time." Suddenly, Danny had an idea as he spoke to them about it.

"Time? That gives me a great idea." He headed off to ask Clockwork what he could do to reverse it...

* * *

"No, it's a horrible idea. I'm the ghost of time, not the ghost of miracle cures."

"Send me back in time to my parents's college days, Clockwork. I can prevent the accident that gave Vlad his original case of ecto-acne _and_ his ghost powers." Danny answered as he bantered with Clockwork for the chance as Clockwork warned him.

"Changing the past can have dire consequences. Are you willing to take that risk?"

"Please, Vlad may be a bit heartless, but I know that we are changing him for the better, I don't have a choice if I want him to live on."

"You always have a choice, but since you insist on learning things the hard way..." He opened a portal and Danny headed in with a final glance. "...Try not to destroy the past." Danny didn't like the sound of it as he traveled through time itself and arrived to the time where he needed to be as he mused, to all of the 'culture he was seeing.

"'Destroy the past?' What? And lose all this culture?"

"Totally awesome outfit, dude." He glanced to a punk rocker giving him the thumbs up before heading off as he groaned.

"Oh, great." Danny huffed as he continued to himself about it. "I blend. Ah well, guess it beats people thinking I'm a-" He glanced to a poster and made to find out what he could do to change it as the bell rang and the past forms of his parents and Vlad spoke.

"Maddie, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time."

"One second, Vlad." She called out to the large teen. "Jack, do you remember to fill the filtrator with ecto-purifier?"

"On it, baby." But in his distraction, he didn't take up the ecto-purifier, he took up diet soda and poured it in, Danny blinking for the answer before Vlad exclaimed to the small device before them, having seen the look of affection Maddie had for Jack.

"I'm telling you, Jack, it won't work."

"Bogus, V-man, it totally will. This proto-portal is guaranteed to bust open the wall into the ghost dimension." The pair headed over to start as Danny was going to change how this event would go down as Maddie exclaimed to the notes.

"Jack, these calculations aren't right."

"Bonzai!" The portal started to power up to Jack's control, but Danny dashed to save Vlad from the incident, knocking him away as the room became a bounce board for the projectile beam before Vlad got back up and dashed into Maddie as he yelped.

"No!" The beam went in between them with an explosion as Maddie thanked him for the save.

"Vlad, you saved my life."

"Yes, I did, didn't I?"

"No ecto-acne, no Plasmius. Mission accomplished." Clockwork pushed the button on his staff and send Danny back 'home as he spoke. "Whew, back home, and no quarantine tent either which means everyone's alright." He stopped to see that Fentonworks was not so teched out, in fact it was just a old building as Danny mused in confusion. "I think." He turned back to Fenton and entered the house, the place looking ransacked or abandoned with boxes of pizza littering the ground as he called out. "Uh, Mom? Dad? Jazz? Anyone?" But his breath went off and he knew that meant that a ghost was close, but what he found was his dad, dressed in his old college garbs instead of his jumpsuit, as he exclaimed.

"Nobody trespasses on Jack Fenton's property!"

"Dad! Relax!"

"'Dad?' I don't have a son! I'm single, bitterly, bitterly single."

"You are? Geez, that explains almost everything."

"What!?"

"Nothing! Uh, is that ecto-acne?"

"It's a condition, that you shouldn't know about! How do you know about ecto-acne?! Talk!" Jack exclaimed with grabbing Danny and lifting him.

"I'm your son. I know all about the accident in Wisconsin years ago... that shouldn't have happened." But Jack was not in that ring as he exclaimed with throwing Danny like a basketball.

"Oh, it happened alright. And my life went straight down the flusher from that day on." White halos formed around him and Jack took on a more Plasmius appearance of Jack as he blasted at Danny as his 'son' called out to him.

"Guh! Wait! It's me, Danny! Your son!" He dodged another blast as Jack exclaimed in rage.

"Lies! I do not have a son! Even if I did, I certainly wouldn't name him 'Danny.' That's dumb."

"Okay, I didn't want to do this in front of you, but 'going ghost'!" He changed into Phantom which gave pause, but not for long.

"You're a ghost? I hate ghosts!" He fired once more, but still, he was a horrible shot as he exclaimed. "Nn-rah!"

"I don't understand, that's got to be Dad. He aims like Dad."

"If it wasn't for ghosts, I never would've lost the love of my life." The tackle was otherwise said as Danny was sent flying through the floor as he got himself back up with hoping for a way to fix this.

"Oh, this is bad. I've gotta get back to Clockwork and change this." He stopped to gasp at the lack of portal as he answered his own concern. "No portal?" He found the proto-portal covered in dust as he grimaced. "Okay? Maybe I can squeeze through this stupid thing?" He stopped to see something far worse on the other side. "Oh, oh no." Mounted on the wall was a new clipping of Vlad Masters and Maddie married together as he exclaimed. "I didn't destroy the past, I destroyed the present! I changed the past into something far worse!" He reached over and took the clipping as he read. "'Mr. and Mrs. Vlad Masters'?" He gasped as Jack arrived and empowered a fist to punch.

"Say 'goodbye'!" Danny turned with holding the clipping up and that stopped Jack from his attack as he spoke again. "'Goodbye'." He took it from Danny as he looked at it with remorse. "Seems all I ever do is say 'goodbye'." Danny quickly inquired about it, in hopes of finding out where he went wrong.

"Dad, uh, Jack, please, just tell me what happened. I mean, I'd love to hear you blather on about the glory days."

"Well, my cat, Jasmine, won't listen anymore." So Jasmine was Jack's idea, so Danny was his as Jack started off with explaining. "Anyway, it was twenty years ago..." instead of Vlad being affected by the acne, Jack was in the blast and he dashed away in fear as he continued. "I may have lost Maddie that day, but I gained ghost powers and twenty-seven pounds. Anyway, after that I tried to find my place in the world. First as a ghost fighting superhero, but that didn't work out; then again, perhaps I shouldn't have debuted on Halloween." That made some sense as he continued on. "Eventually, I moved here, to continue my research on ghosts." That may have scared the previous resident away as Jack just continued. "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get rid of my ghost half, the half I knew Maddie would never be able to accept." Danny realized that he made a terrible mistake as he spoke.

"Oh, man. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

"What are you blathering about?" Danny answered with pulling out his wallet and showing the pictures of the Fentons, the real family as Jack exclaimed. "What? What is this?"

"Vlad wasn't supposed to marry Maddie, you were! I went back in time and changed one little moment in the past and messed up everything." Jack growled as Danny pleaded. "But I can fix it, I swear! I just need a working portal to-"

"More Lies!" Jack shouted in dividing himself into three of himself and went to town on Danny, launching him from the building as he exclaimed.

"I have to get to the Ghost Zone and find Clockwork." He turned invisible to hide form the Jacks before forming back to the visible plane as he wished that the OTHER half of the original family could help him out. "And if Dad doesn't have a portal, that means I have to find Mom and hope she does." He took flight to the Castle and landing to shifting in human form and knocking on the door with the knocker exhausted as both Vlad and Maddie greeted him at the door with Vlad shouting.

"How many times do I have to tell you, 'No. Free. Cheese. Samples'!" But Danny didn't have the time to explain it right now as he dropped to his knees in lack of energy.

"Mom."

"Mom?!" Both exclaimed as they brought him in and got him energized again as Maddie spoke again. "We should call your parents. They must be worried sick."

"My parents are sort of, uh, missing, there was an accident**.**" It was the truth of the matter right now as he felt the energy return as Vlad spoke.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, my boy."

"Is there anything we can do to help? Do you need a place to stay?"

"Ah, your kindness knows no bounds, my love." Vlad answered with puckering up before Danny got up to stop it.

"Ah-ha, listen, um..." He covered Vlad's mouth from kissing as he asked a weird question from the alternate family. "...this might sound like a strange question, but, um, do you guys have a ghost portal by any chance?" Maddie laughed with feigned innocence.

"Why would we have a silly thing like a ghost portal?" The way she avoided the question said something else as Vlad spoke next in pointing out his stance of the whole thing.

"Yes, I'm a simple dairy man, successor to the Wisconsin Dairy King, we do not discuss ghosts in. this. house!" Danny blinked at that before he pointed out a familiar tool that his parents used often.

"Then why do you have an ecto-foamer?" The fact it was slightly stashed in the closet was a signal as Vlad inquired with hidden outrage.

"What's the meaning of this?"

"Um, that's my- _carpet_ foamer. It eliminates stains, not ghosts. Right, sweetie?"

"Maddie, can you forgive me for doubting you?" They then started to make out as Danny grimaced to the sight.

"I thought my real parents were embarrassing, this is so much worse." They gave him lodges to use until further notice, but Danny took the night time to search, finding a lab, but not what he was looking for as he hummed for an answer. "Something's wrong here. Even if Mom was crazy enough to marry Vlad, there's no way she'd give up ghost hunting to become a milkmaid." He paused before going deeper into the foundation to find what he was looking for as he exclaimed. "I knew it! Now all I need is-" He beamed once more to walking and dashing to a familiar arch, a heart on it instead of hazard markings. "Ye-yes! A portal! I can get back to Clockwork and-" A crash sounded behind him and he turned to find Maddie behind him, in a jumpsuit and a familiar suction device in hand as she pointed it at him with a call.

"Eat Maddie Weasel, ghost!" Danny exclaimed to get her to listen.

"Wait! You don't _understand_!" But he was gone and lost his battle with consciousness for a time.

* * *

He groaned awake to Maddie as she spoke. "Oh, you're awake." Danny started to get afraid as this was one of the worst moment of his life, he was strapped down and had a laser position right in front of him as she continued with turning it on. "Good, I have some questions for you. Let's start with 'who are you' and 'why are you snooping around my secret lab'?"

"Wait, what are you doing!?" The thing detached into Maddie's hand as he fired a fine green beam and it was moved to his pit as he continued to plead. "Stop!"

"Oh, scream all you want, ghost. This lab is totally sound proof; it has to be or my husband would find out about it. Now, I ask you again: 'Who are you'?" Danny yielded with his answer.

"I'm- your son." She gasped as Danny continued. "Yours and Jack Fenton's." Anger filled Maddie again as she exclaimed.

"Liar! I haven't seen Jack Fenton in years. He blamed _me_ for the accident that gave him his powers, Vlad told me so; he ran away here to escape his ghostly wrath." The record stopped there as Danny cataloged it in his head, if Vlad was hit, he blames Jack for it, but if Jack was hit, Vlad tells Maddie that Jack blames HER for the accident, was Vlad afraid of the paranormal that he would do everything in his power to ensure that he was never be pulled into the mess of ectoplasm and ghosts, that was something to think about as Danny replied back.

"What? That's insane! He's still totally in love with you."

"It's true, Maddie." Both gasped as Jack arrived as he spoke his piece. "It's always been true."

"Jack? But Vlad told me you never wanted to see me again?" Jack refuted that as he came closer.

"I never stopped wanting to see you, Maddie; I... just couldn't face you as the thing you despise..." The halos appeared and he reverted back as he spoke. "...a ghost. But I had to come, because of this." He held out the wallet that Danny left behind for Maddie to see as she took it in hand.

"A family? With you?" Danny breathed easy as Maddie hugged Jack and he hugged her back. "Oh, Jack, And that's why you called me 'Mom' at the door, you must be our son from an alternate timeline." She disengaged the locks as the three shared a hug as Danny breathed out a very real answer.

"The one good thing about having scientist parents- _alternate timeline_\- totally valid excuse." They split as Jack asked.

"So, where's our little alternate timeline daughter, Davy?"

'It's Danny."

"That's still dumb."

"Eh, that's a little complicated." Danny chuckled as Maddie booted up the system and searched for the ghost Danny was looking for.

"Clockwork, right?" They found his description and appearance as easily as Danny mused.

"Wow, you're good." Maddie walked over to the way and opened it as she spoke.

"You don't really think I spend my nights coming up with new cheese recipes, do you?" Cookies sounded more interesting as Jack beamed.

"Oh, Maddie, just think, in another universe we have two kids to embarrass." Danny did the same as he headed for the way through, pausing when he heard the door behind him open and knew that the clock just ticked as Vlad's voice filled the lab.

"Let's focus on what you're doing in this universe, shall we?" Danny ducked down with a turn as Vlad stood at the entrance, ecto-foamer in hand, with Jack and Maddie gasping to being exposed as Vlad exclaimed. "I knew this wasn't a carpet foamer. You've been experimenting again."

"Vlad, it's not what you think."

"No, Maddie, It's exactly what he thinks. You and I are destined to be together, and nothing will keep us apart any longer." Jack answered in turning ghost as Vlad countered.

"Nothing, except this! " He fired and Jack was blasted into the wall as Danny called out.

"Leave him alone." He took flight to fire a beam at Vlad who ducked before he barraged the room, Danny dodging as a stray blast got Maddie and slammed her into the terminal as Vlad spoke.

"Sorry, sweetheart, my bad."

"Mom!" He charged a blast to knock the foamer out of Vlad's hand, but he had a steady grip as he exclaimed back.

"Don't you _ever_ call her that again!" Danny didn't dodge when he was hit with the foamer, landing on the table and the shackles trapping him on it as Vlad spoke with approaching the table. "You have overstayed your welcome. Now, you're going to have to leave _molecule by molecule_." He dropped the foamer to handle the laser as Danny exclaimed.

"Wait!" The beam moved to cut off his limbs as he shouted. "No! You don't understand! None of this should be happening!"

"You think I care? I like it this way!" Jack, having gotten free, slammed Vlad away as he exclaimed back.

"Get away from my son!" He shut off the laser, but Vlad was not done as he got up and shoved Jack back before pulling free the laser and firing it, Jack protecting himself form its beam, but it sent him careening into the portal as warning alarms went off and the smoke cleared to a human Jack kneeling on the ground there as Maddie exclaimed.

"Jack." She dashed over to him as he mumbled.

"It's alright, Maddie. Just remember what could've been." He breathed as he fell unconscious before Maddie had enough as she vented on Vlad.

"You despicable, lying piece of cheese! I wasted the best years of my life with you!"

"Now, Maddie, I may be a lying piece of cheese, but I'm still your husband." Maddie didn't care as she lifted him up and primed the throw.

"Consider this an annulment!" With that, she threw him into the Zone to be dealt with by the other ghosts within before she dashed over to Danny as she spoke. "Quick, the portal's overloading." She uncuffed him as he launched himself into the portal. "Go back in time and make sure this never happens, Clockwork will help." He soared in to find Clockwork and hope that he had the answers.

* * *

"I will not help." Danny stammered as he asked.

"But- Vlad, he-"

"Needs to be cured in the present, not the past. I can reset time to back to the way it was before you meddled, but that's it." Danny watched as the same played out.

"Jack, do you remember to fill the filtrator with ecto-purifier?"

"On it, baby." And he grabbed... the diet cola as Danny exclaimed.

"That's it. That's it!" Clockwork smiled before Danny facepalmed. "All this time and I missed such an apparent answer, the portal wasn't powered by the ecto-purifier back then, it was powered by diet soda, Oh My Ancients, I was so dumb!"

"See, you are indeed learning, Daniel, but don't let me take up anymore time, save him." Danny nodded as he took flight back to the human world as Jack exclaimed.

"Live, Vladdie, live!" He pounded on the man's chest as he pleaded. This cannot be the end, it can not!" Vlad huffed as he spoke.

"If you see Daniel, tell him that I..."

"Why don't you tell me yourself?" Maddie gasped as she rushed over with protective gear in hand.

"Put on your protective gear, you don't wanna catch the ecto-acne!"

"Uh, yeah, about that. those ecto-impurities you couldn't identify, um, would they be consistent with, oh, say, diet cola?"

"Don't be silly, why would-" She stopped with a gasp at the result and almost facepalmed on how foolish they were. "Oh my." She quickly mixed up some ecto-antidote and gave it to Vlad as the acne disappeared from sight as Jack exclaimed.

"Vladdie, you're cured!"

"That's great, Jack. Now, would you please stop pounding on my chest!" Jack stopped as he apologized.

"Sorry, diet soda?" He stopped to see that he grabbed the ecto-antidote instead and mused. "Why do I mess up with these things at times...?" Maddie cut in as she inquired about Danny's insight.

"Danny? How did you know?"

"There had to be some benefits to being the son of the two smartest ghost hunters on the planet." He flicked a signal to Cedric and he gave a thumbs up as the two parents went to the machines to record it all down and never to make that mistake again if anyone came down with it as Vlad beamed.

"I knew you'd come through, Daniel. All it took was the proper motivation." He groaned as he inquired. "Of course, I'm still weak beyond measure, so bygones?" Danny beamed as he spoke.

"Bygones, though I am not going to send you back to Wisconsin, the Material Grill has a 80's night going on." The squad watched as Vlad paled in pleading.

"Daniel, don't you dare...!"

"Suffer with me, the 80's have returned for the night!"

* * *

"We finally got our 80's night out." Maddie mused as the Material Grill had the 80's going on as Jack beamed back, a bit upset that Vlad made a 'ghostly' retreat to avoid being part of the 80's time.

"It's too bad Vladdie had to fly back to Wisconsin so suddenly, he'd 'ave loved this place. Right, Danny?"

"Gnarly!" Danny danced with his folks with a moonwalk, past Jazz as she groaned.

"If anyone asks, I was adopted."

"Let's just say I've come to terms with Mom and Dad's past. I wouldn't change it again, even if I could." He danced with them as Mikey exclaimed to the dancing going on.

"Forget the internet, this is going on pay-per-view!" It was quite the time as Danny showed off some serious moves with his folks, the squad taking a backseat as they watched as Talia hummed.

"This is the part where we should 'save' Jazz from the horrors of the 80's."

"Nah, Babypop's got it covered, and besides this is very amusing to watch."

"Is Ferdinand recording all of this?"

"Of course, Cedric made him to be my protector and our portable data archive, he is getting all of it in the records." Cedric chuckled as he looked back to the scene, surprised that no one had taken notice of the machine wolf by Tucker's elbow, its blue eyes purple to show some feedback of the scene recorded.

"Just remember that he is meant for ghost hunting, NOT being a teen." Tucker waved his hand about it and the four rolled their eyes as you could could teach a dog new tricks, but sometimes, they can fall back on old hobbies...


	37. S2 - Kindred Spirits

In the shadows of a hidden lab, Vlad went over all records he had compiled and readied from the equipment that Valerie Gray had before the suit suffered a 'total' overhaul and was severed from the net work. "File 10-4-O-6-VM." Clips of Danny and Valerie battling appeared before he called out. "Stop." The feed froze as he continued. "Analysis." This was the process ongoing as he repeated with different feeds, all of Danny battling the Red Huntress, both friendly and competitively. "File 1-O-4-O-6-VX. Stop. Analysis. File 18-74-MI. Analysis. File 24-16-SM. Stop. File 32-99-IM. Stop. Analysis. Conclusion?" But all of it was for naught for what he was looking for.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. Inconclusive data. Experiment cannot be completed without mid-morph sample." A Maddie program answered as Vlad huffed with some resentment.

"Bah! The equipment I gave Valerie to fight ghosts has been monitoring Daniel for months and I'm still missing the one piece I need." He snapped his fingers and turned to a series of pods, three opening to a brute, a thing in a bedsheet, and a small thing as he floated over to them and spoke. "You know what to do."

"Yes, father." They took flight as Vlad mused.

"Father. Ha! I do so love that. Now say it again the way I programmed you to."

"Jack Fenton is an idiot. I am glad I serve you." More windows of the digital Maddie appeared as they repeated the phrase. "Jack Fenton is an idiot. I am glad I serve you." Vlad laughed manically as Danny was going to have some trouble with a long-term plan that Vlad had been cook for a great deal of time...

* * *

It was a casual game of mini-golf, but Sam's hit was in vain as the windmill stopped her ball before she groaned. "Ugh, darn it."

"18th hole, Sam. I beat ya here, I win." She growled as the party of Cedric, Valerie, Topaz, and Taila watched it all happen as Topaz spoke.

"Strange how Babypop didn't stop by for this mini-golf match."

"Indeed, I expected him to be here by now, what did Jazz say about it when you called her, Cedric?" The young man answered to Talia's question with a roll of the wrist to boot.

"She said that he didn't set his alarm this time and that he might have overslept, Sam and Tucker know this as well, but they were still a bit miffed about it." They nodded as Valerie glanced to the mechanical wolf by her side.

"And Ferdinand is... doing what exactly out here?"

"Being cuddly with his master's girl, Tucker is many things, but he has actually been better with being with you."

"Well, that and I could just as easily shock him with some of my ghost toys."

"That too." Tucker moved to putt the ball in, but his club phased through as all watched it happen with Sam beaming to Tucker's gasp.

"That's one." Tucker went again, but the ball just phased as Sam pointed out. "And two. Three. Four. And five. Ha!" Tucker growled to the failed swings and reached for the ball before it went intangible on him and was lifted by someone else as Danny spoke.

"Boo." Tucker yelped before he recovered to lecture.

"Danny, knock it off."

"Yeah, you were supposed to be here an hour ago." She then directed her tone to Tucker in continuing. "By the way, that still counts." Danny phased back under as the ball rolled as he spoke.

"Uh, sorry I was late." He emerged from the rocks as Fenton as he continued. "But you'll be happy to know that the ghost king won't... be..." But all of them gave a look of suspect looks as Danny corrected himself. "Okay. I overslept."

"We know, Danny." All answered as Sam lightly groaned.

"Ugh, Danny. You have got to start being more considerate."

"Yeah, dude." Tucker pointed out as he made his statement about it. "Lately, you've been treating us like sidekicks instead of friends. And when you get into a fight, we're the ones who take the beating."

"Oh, come on. Name one time." All glanced at him before he blinked in relization. "Well, Skulker firing his missiles in a molasses factory was kind of reckless, but I guess I was not really thinking about my surroundings at that time."

"Cujo's saliva was everywhere when we finally got him back into the Zone, in his titan form." Valerie pointed out to the second moment as Topaz was on the third.

"And I am no vegan, but getting stomped on by the Lunch Lady is a new low for me, you said 'Look out!' and bolted to the side, some of us were not fast enough to go intangible or to just run from a fight."

"Because we are quite stubborn when it comes down to it." They nodded as Danny spoke in apology.

"Okay, okay I get it. I'll try to be a little more considerate." They ghost sense went off, even Sam's as her was a puff of herbal scents as Danny grimaced. "Starting tomorrow." People screamed at the arrival of a ghost in a bed sheet before Danny bolted over and slammed into the ghost, smashing him into one of the mini-golf structures as Tucker questioned, with Sam and Valerie watching as Cedric had jumped in to join Phantom while Talia and Topaz ran observance.

"What kinda ghost haunts a miniature golf course?"

"Well, there is a Box Ghost. Obviously all the good haunts have been taken." Danny was knocked out of the structure and Cedric went in, as the bed-sheet ghost clashed with him before he bashed the ghost into a windmill and Danny flew over to the slumping ghost as he chuckled.

"Seriously, a bed sheet? What do ya got under there?" He pulled the sheet away and what they saw was not a real ghost, more like a blackened skeleton as Danny gasped before the tackled him in speaking in a haunting tone.

"Change back."

"What? Get off me!" He kicked the ghost off, it only the upper half of a skeleton before it charged him again and he blasted, lasering a decent amount of the course and destroying the ghost as he grimaced, nearly panicking to run before he shook his head as Cedric landed beside him.

"That ghost said 'change back', that can't be something you say to a foe of all things."

"Yeah... that was weird..." Sam, Tucker, and Valerie arrived to the mess and were caught by the manager as he ranted at them.

"Trashin' the golf course, huh?"

"But we didn't do it."

"Really? Anybody else you wanna pin the blame on then?"

"Yeah, you..." Danny answered as he glared at the manager, making them realize that he was still there with the Iron Exorcist. "The fact you jumped to the belief that they trashed the place when I was just dealing with a ghost is harsh, sure, it is not going to repay the whole thing, but that doesn't mean you blame them in the first place."

"Besides, we are here, we are going to help and if you have an issue with it..." Cedric voiced as his visor gave a narrowed eye at the manager who was now shaking in his boots. "...Then you have never seen the type of crazy ghosts that like to destroy a lot of things."

"O-O-Okay!" The manager headed off in a panic as the trio thanked the duo for standing up for them.

"Thanks, Danny."

"No problem, beside this is my fault, I have to make amends somehow." Cedric nodded as Danny continued. "So let's fix up this golf course." With that, they started their work, moving rubble and cleaning up debris, Sam and Talia mending the ground to a more perfect condition and the Manager returned to see it was all back to normal, even better, as he thanked them for doing it and for calling him out, that was rude of him...

* * *

"And it said 'change back', do you guys have any clue as to what that means?" Danny asked on the Fenton Phones as Valerie flew with him and Cedric, the other four or rather five took the scenic route as Sam spoke.

"No, that doesn't sound like something that anyone among your enemies would say, who would want you to change back in a public place like the course?"

"Something was also wrong about that ghost, Danny." Cedric answered as Danny glanced to him in his speech. "I was getting some erratic patterns from the ectoplasm compound that made up that ghost, I am thinking that it was artificial in nature."

"Artificial?" Tucker asked as he joined in the call. "You mean like... it was not a real ghost, but some sort of construct?"

"I don't know, Tucker, Topaz and Talia both noticed the same, that it didn't hum to them one bit and ghosts have a natural sixth sense about both sides." Cedric answered as he continued. "I'll be heading for the Base, maybe I can find out more over there." They nodded as Danny bid them farewell.

"Alright, I'll see you guys around." They headed out and Danny focused on the line as Sam and Tucker were usually on the line for more private conversations, they usually get dropped off when that happens. "I am sorry that I have been a little bit of a jerk, you guys, I was just trying to keep the ghost rates from going up."

"It's okay, I know that you are trying your best with what you got, but we are not trained fighters like you, give us ectoguns and we will help, but we aren't as skilled as you are, Danny."

"Yeah, man, you don't have to worry about it right now, we get it."

"I know. I know." Danny answered as he phased through the house and reverted back in his room as he moved to continue. "And I appreciate it, but-uh" He trailed off to spot something out of the ordinary, some girl in his room, but she looked like a preteen with red hat, red shorts, and blue hoodie as she was reading one of his comics before he spoke up. "Can I help you?"

"Is something wrong, Danny?"

"Just asking someone right in front of me, call you later." Sam nodded as the call cut as the comic was lowered to the girl speaking.

"Not so loud." Danny blinked at the eyes as they were the same blue as his as she introduced herself. "I'm Danielle. Your third cousin once removed. I ran away from home. Hey, you got any food?"

"Uh, yeah, we got some, hold on a second, won't you?" Danny headed out before he sent a message to Cedric. 'Need some details, Fenton Family Tree, someone by the name of Danielle.'

'On it.' Danny returned with the food and blinked at the amount she just consumed, that must have been the Jack family's abnormal appetite as she burped and sighed before she took in the room with some interest.

"You wanna be an astronaut? Do you know they only chose one hundred people-"

"-every two years to go into the space program." Both said at the same time as Danny answered back.

"Yeah, I knew that. How did you?" But she switched the topic on him as she glanced to the music collection.

"Dumpty Humpty. Those guys rock." Danny groaned as he took the CD out of her hands in speaking.

"Yeah, I know that too. You had enough to eat?" She nodded before Danny took her wrist. "Then it's time to talk to my parents." She yelped as she refused.

"No!" But he didn't go too far as he pulled her into the hall and closed the door as he spoke.

"Look, you say you're my cousin and maybe you are, but we still have to call your parents, even if you ran away, because if this is just some scheme to pick up someone on the run, I need to know." Danielle looked surprised as Danny continued, with kneeling down. "I just want to know everything, I am learning how it is all going down, so hearing about a cousin once removed is news to me, are you sure that I can't get you to at least see my folks about this?"

"Uh..." Danielle answered back as she seemed to be rotating the position she was in. "That sounds... good, I guess, but really..." She dashed out to the door before Danny could stop her. "I said no!" She dashed in as Danny shouted after her.

"Hey! Come back!" He followed her into his room, but she was gone as he inquired. "Man, she's fast." He went ghost and flew out of the room to see where she was, but nothing as he tried to piece it out. "Okay, she's a twelve year old girl. How far could she possible have-" His ghost sense went off and he chuckled at what ELSE could be coming for him. "Swell. After the bedsheet ghost, what's this gonna be? A spooky bat on a string?" The growl sounded otherwise as he looked up to a hulking brute charging him and he barrel-rolled out of the way, the swing whiffing as Danny commented. "Man, you look like I do on a bad day, but I'm gonna make you look worse!" He charged, only to get caught and hurled away as he impacted into a car and groaned as he mused. "Okay, so muscled ghost, not a good sign for me alone." The ghost crashed into the car with a growl as Danny turned to fight, only to get picked up and lifted with a punch ready to hit before a voice called out.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Danielle had returned as she sassed the brute as Danny spoke back to her.

"Get out of here." He reached for the hand to pry it off, but Danielle refused as she spoke.

"Forget it. I know who you are. And I came a long way to find you. And I'm not leaving now." Without warning, a while halos formed around her and separated, changing her into a smaller, female version of him with slacks, long-sleeve top that exposed her midriff, gloves and boots, her hair turning white, and her eyes turning green. Danny was surprised as she blasted a ghost beam at the creature and got Danny free as he tired to find the words.

"How-?" But the brute was not done as it came for them both as Danielle answered back.

"Do you wanna ask questions? Or you wanna kick some butt?" Danny yielded to that as the brute came charging for them with extended claws before both blasted, a hole in the center of the brute before it turned into goo and splashed on the asphalt as Danny spoke.

"That is not normal." He shook his head as he spoke. "Night's getting weirder and weirder. And I have a lot of questions. When we get back, my parents are-" Danielle pulled something else as she seemed to faint as Danny huffed. "And I guess we'll have to answer those questions tomorrow..." Danielle would have smiled if it weren't for the final part. "...At the Firebase." She gasped as Danny had used a stun rod, hiding it in his jumpsuit sleeve, on her and spun it as he spoke. "Cedric was right, this thing works both for riot police and criminals, I hate it when he is right..."

* * *

The next day at Casper High, Danny spoke to his friends there of Valerie, Sam, and Tucker while Ferdinand acted like a normal dog with licking Tucker and resting its paws on his lap. "So I gave her to Cedric last night to see if he could figure out what her story is, he hasn't called to tell me that she had got out anytime soon, but that is beside the point." Danny asked as he tried to make amends for his behavior. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you guys?"

"I am a simple girl, Danny, just give me a good fight and you have repaired my trust."

"Help me with the construction of a hover chair with Cedric's guidelines, and you have the Tuck's belief back just fine." Danny turned to Sam as she mumbled before giving a sigh and speaking.

"A date, treat me to a date, and you will be good and make it a good one, not a short one, a REAL date, Danny." Danny blinked before he answered.

"So a fight, a chair, and a long-running date, I can work with that." They nodded as Danny took Valerie aside and spoke. "Right here and now?"

"Yeah, make a statement, Fenton, I want us to have an audience to who has got it more able to fight ghosts, the Demi or the Huntress?" Danny huffed before he shouted.

"Hey, everybody!" Eyes landed on him as he spoke with a smug tone. "Valerie was just saying that she thinks that the Red Huntress is the better ghost hunter to Danny Phantom!" That was a public shot as some glared, some 'ohhh'ed, and some started to shovel food in while watching the drama. "So, show of hands, who believes that the Huntress has it going or that Phantom outclasses her." Valerie smirked at the compare before Danny's sense went off and they noticed as a small ball of green soared in and started to terrorize the lunchroom before Valerie spoke.

"Shall we?"

"Let's take cover then get to work." They slipped into cover and changed as they started to chase the blob, it was clearly trying to pull them away from the school as it had taken a few rushes for Danny for some reason. Sam and Tucker were among the escaping students so they couldn't be blamed for the mess, but when a 'ghost' is the cause of it, someone had to clean up the mess and, while Lancer couldn't really just slap them with the task, it was only likely that they are tossed under the bus like that.

The pair chased the blob out across the town as Valerie shouted. "Race ya, Ghost Boy."

Danny chuckled as he retorted. "You are on." He picked up pace as Valerie went head-to-head with him in chasing the blob, weaving as Danny questioned. "I don't get it, what are these ghosts even doing here, they just cause some trouble and just either tackle me or something else."

"Yeah, that's weird... maybe we should..." Valerie yelped as a blast hit her and Danny turned to Vlad as he spoke.

"Now, now, we can't have any latecomers getting in-between us, now would we?"

"What? Vlad?"

"Of course, fool. Who else?" He blasted Danny as well and rushed into a series of attacks before launching him as Danny huffed in inquiring and getting back up.

"Aren't you at least gonna make some stupid crack about my father? Or a lame come on about my mom?"

"No, dear boy, funny joke around Vlad isn't here today." He fired a blast and Danny countered as the were equal in power there as Danny tried to think of somewhere to overpower Vlad and find out what the heck was going on, but the blob returned and blitzed him as he moaned to darkness as Vlad laughed. "Oh, I so do love it when a plan comes to together like that, now where I wonder is my more stable child, oh well..." He mused in picking Danny up, just as Sam and Tucker came out of the school to toss the trash in the dumpster as Sam huffed.

"As soon as we get rid of this trash, I'm gonna find Danny and give him a piece of my-" Both stopped as they watched Vlad take off with a human Danny slung over his shoulder before taking off. "Danny!"

"Aw man. We should've known that something was up with those ghosts, maybe even Danny's cousin is a part of it."

"That doesn't excuse his latent times of leaving us as sidekicks."

"Yeah, but he's our friend. We have history." Lancer spoke up as he inquired.

"Manson. Foley. Can you tell me why you're not still in the cafeteria?" Before either could say, something landed between them and stood up and speaking.

"These two have recently been recruited to aid me in a short endeavor, stand down, senior citizen." Lancer backed up just as well and shut the door as the Exorcist turned to them. "Glad I found you, I also saw Vlad, but I thought to find you two first, Talia is taking Valerie back to the Base."

"What's going on, Cedric? Why was Vlad here and where is he taking Danny?"

"That's what we need to talk about, all of us..." Meanwhile, up in Colorado, Danny started to stir again before it cleared up, the screen that had the Vladco logo then bringing up footage of him transforming as he inquired.

"You've been spying on me? Okay, I've said it before and I'll say it again. You really are one seriously crazed up fruit loop, Uncle Vlad."

"A fruit loop wouldn't have been able to make his first million with a series of invisible burglaries." That was a newspaper of robbed banks. "A fruit loop would never have thought to overshadow enough millionaires to become the riches men on the planet." There goes Mastersoft as Vlad shouted. "I. Am. Not. A. Fruit. Loop! And I am not a villain." He breathed before continuing. "All I wanted was love." He opened the pod in the back as Danny was aghast as his ghost half resting in it as Vlad continued. "It's taken months, and the good clone still needs more time before he can accept your DNA." He looked back to Vlad in Shulker's little box trap as the blob floated around his head.

"So those ghosts..."

"Bad clones. Mistakes." The blob expanded out to be a messed up Danny Phantom that yelled at him with an eye falling out and dissolving into ectoplasm as Vlad spoke. "And I would watch a hundred more failures devolve into ectoplasm to get the perfect half clone ghost son."

"Oh yeah." Danny chuckled as he continued with furrowed brow. "Nothing loopy about that."

"Are you under the impression that you're getting out of this? I need a DNA sample of you mid-morph to complete my work." He snapped his fingers and the clone shrink back down to slam into Danny's forehead in trying to control him.

"Get out of me!"

"And then you will be obsolete."

* * *

Sam and Tucker arrived to the lab as Talia greeted them. "It's a pleasure to see you two, now we need to move, Topaz is currently tracking down Daniel's presence as we speak, so we will know where to head to fast, but we need to address the bigger matter on hand."

"Which is...?" Sam asked as Talia guided them in, they gasping as Danny's cousin was in a pod, like one of the sci-fi pods for healing people critically injured as Cedric retracted his armor in speaking.

"She is not his cousin, she is his clone." Both blinked again as Sam questioned aloud.

"C-Come again...?"

"It's a lot of big words and tricky issues." Cedric answered as he brought up the display of Dani's bio-metrics. "Her bone marrow is slimier than Danny's own, but they both bear the same amount of tone and volume that being different is highly unlikely, worse yet, they share the same spinal Leyline core that her claim as a cousin single removed is a fib, but she has only had a month's worth of memories to fill in the gaps, the other part is something that should be a concern." They watched as he pulled up a feed and brought it up, getting a view of Vlad's face looking concerned as he spoke, not likely to have noticed that Dani was hearing all of it, but was blank as to what it was about.

"Not good, I should have shut down this place before this got out of hand, now I need to get Danny's mid-morph sample to get this place to accept and finally shut down, I will need to be the villain here, but if I can't, this place will try again and again to get Danny and take from him everything he holds... I just hope that I am not too late..." The scene blanked out as Tucker spoke with confusion.

"Vlad's trying to shut it down, then why did he attack Danny in the first place, Valerie was also in the preemptive attack."

"Valerie was a piece of the puzzle that Vlad didn't want interfering right now and Danny is still years of experience behind Vlad." Cedric answered as he continued with turning to them. "The Booo-merang should help in finding Danny, but I suggest keeping in radio contact with Topaz to make sure you know when to hit or escape." They nodded as they headed back out, taking the Specter Speeder and Booo-merang in hand while Jack and Maddie were somewhat none the wiser as they soared into the sky and Sam hurled the device.

"Okay. Find Danny." She sat back down with hurling it. "Tucker, follow that stupidly named tracking device." He floored it to full throttle as Danny struggled to resist changing, holding it back as Vlad asked the holo-Maddie of its progress.

"Well?"

"Subject is still resisting morph, dear heart." She somehow dialed it more up as Danny resisted still before the device started to give out. "Containment chamber beginning to overload." It then exploded. "Oopsie. Has overloaded." The whole thing erupted as Vlad shielded himself before Danny changed in the mist and phased through him and away as Vlad exclaimed.

"Agh! I will-" He took a moment and breathed as he shook his head. "No, I will not be losing my temper about this, Danielle still has yet to return and I have a feeling that Daniel's friend is responsible for that..." He hummed before he spoke again. "Maddie, dear, can you find the number of one Cedric Trace?"

"Sure thing, sweet dough." What was he even thinking with making a holographic Maddie when he could converse with the real one nowadays? "Standby, there seems..." She fizzled out and the screen brought up Cedric as he nearly crashed his head into the terminal before speaking.

"Of course, you would be searching for my number, phone just went off and I back-traced it to your location, Vlad."

"Now, now, is that any way to speak with a business associate?"

"If it was anyone else, no; For you, yes." Vlad frowned as Cedric spoke. "You could have told me about this and I would have helped to fix the problem, not make it worse."

"Well..." Vlad scratched his cheek as Cedric huffed in defeat.

"Still, to think of viable clones like that..." He leaned back over as he spoke. "Danielle is fine, but she is currently in stasis, slowing the process of cellular decay going on within her body, holding up a lot better than Tiny and Bones, from what's left of the black top, but I need to get Danny back to be sure of this and also... one of the females with consent, not Talia, she's mine." Vlad nodded as he spoke.

"So, could you...?"

"I'll call off the search and shut the lab down remotely, that will terminate any mission-wise programming it had beforehand and free you from it's corrupted data base."

"Do it..." Alex hacked in and shut it all down, all of it halting in its operations before powering down, losing effort and ability to keep pushing for a flawed agenda before Vlad flew up and found an exhausted Danny and picked him up.

"I am so sorry, Daniel, I didn't mean to let this go on, but the lab wouldn't accept my kill codes, so I had to do it manually, your friend managed to expose the brief weakness in the system to shut it down."

"No more... shocks, Uncle..." Danny breathed as he regained his color. "I hate getting shocked... it's not a pleasant feeling."

"I understand, dear nephew, now come..." Vlad answered with lifting Danny up as he reverted back to human. "Let's get you back to your friends..." He took flight and even dodged the Boooo-merang as Sam and Tucker came a-knocking, but they let it go for now as they headed back to Amity Park, to help Danny recover and to see what Vlad's unexpected operations had done...

* * *

Vlad couldn't help it, he really couldn't, he was not that thorough with ghost anatomy as he was would like to believe, but it didn't stop him from nearly laughing his lungs out of his body at the DETAILED diagram that Cedric Trace had set up to explain out the reproductive process for ghosts, some were casual of sharing core fragments and that would form into a new ghost, others were more asexually in creating more offspring by themselves, while others were... well, best left alone as the members there were scarlet in their faces as the Foley child quickly pulled out a sleeping mask and earbuds to block it all out, Manson was not so turned away as she watched with pure attention while Daniel was cupping his face in embarrassment. Danielle was sadly the same as she whined at listening to this like a child would, but the real surprise was Cedric's lady friend, Talia Rahmat, she was flustered like no other at the presentation before she spoke. "STOP!"

Cedric stopped to look at her as all of the party breathed a sigh of relief for freedom in the base as he spoke. "What is it, Talia?"

"I KNOW that I told you the basic of the Infinite Realms, but not once did I tell you about the deeper life cycles of ghosts, WHO told you all about this!?"

"What are you talking about, Talia?" Cedric questioned as he continued. "Since you didn't want to tell me, I asked Clockwork about it and he gladly told me, even guided me through some of it if I was feeling unsure of myself." The party quieted, even Vlad as speaking Clockwork's name held instant weight as Talia gulped before she turned away in speaking.

"I see... I forgot that he could drop by in the rare moments." Cedric just shrugged with a sigh before he turned to the party in speaking again.

"In any case, why we are here is based around Danielle." Said clone pointed at herself in confusion as Cedric spoke. "While I can understand Vlad's minor loneliness, his efforts of creating a Demi son or daughter is too shortsighted, especially one of Danielle's caliber as you can see here..." He pulled up a diagram of Danielle whole body and its number of parts before Sam questioned, blinking a bit at the fact that Cedric had made a full biology for a clone girl no less than a week old outside the pod.

"Uh, Cedric, correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that...?"

"Excellent, you spotted the problem." They all blinked before Cedric pulled up a DNA strand of Dani's, but that was an issue. "Due to Vlad's distant observations, he failed to account for the DNA sequences giving out half way, leading to different appearances, forms, or even features instead of a specific form of Danny's Demi form, Danielle is the most stable of all of them, but that is only because her form is more compacted in a younger appearance, some of Danny's muscle being converted to feminine features to make up for the loss."

"So... what are we expecting...?"

"Right now, nothing as I don't have the full cure on hand and that could take a month to figure it out, she should be fine for now if she refrains from using all of her power at once, but I urge on the side of caution, we have to be prepared in the event that something goes wrong and she needs help." They nodded, even Danielle as Cedric spoke. "I know that is not what you wanted to hear from me, but we will ensure that, if you come back, we will save you from your fears, is that clear?" She nodded and they disbanded as Cedric started to clean up before Vlad spoke.

"I have to admit, I would be the first to say that a child was able to do far more than what I was expecting, you surprised me, so why cling around Daniel?"

"Because I have become rooted into place, here in Amity, Vlad." He turned to face the aged man with a answer. "This is my home, this is my place of knowledge, of secrets, and of truths, I have become the keeper of friends, I have gained their belief in me, so I seek to uphold that trust to the end of my days." Cedric peered to the passage where the friends were leaving. "I will admit, I don't share in their fun too often and would rather be in a lab doing the impossibles, but I am just a child in compare to the worlds around me, I should have fun with what I can have, not take all of the time in the safety of the clean walls, the silent voices through the halls, and the hum of the energy flowing through the base."

"I see..." That was very mature, Vlad didn't expect this as he opened his mouth to ask. "And your family...?" He froze as Cedric's eyes bore into him before easing up.

"They are fine with it, calls every once in a while to make sure I am still heading home and enjoying their time with me." He cleared his throat as he gestured to the door. "Now, not that this chat hasn't been insightful, do see yourself out, I have some work to get done and school waits for no one, not even us scientific minds." Vlad yielded with a nod as he headed out, Cedric turning around as Vlad made a note, going ghost and heading back to scrap the lab, to investigate the Trace family, something he had said was not connecting well with him while Danielle took her chance at a new-found freedom out in the world, Maddie and Jack told about her and to keep their eyes out for a girl who looked similar if not a mirror to Danny Fenton or Phantom himself...


	38. S2 - Double Cross My Heart

The night of Amity Park saw some spectral presence as Skulker phased through the ground and spied a small ghost flying about. "Well, it's a minor prize. But any prey is good prey!" He engaged his jetpack to pursue, scaring a poor man that witnessed him appear before gunning to catch the ghost, grappling it as he mused. "The element of surprise, the hunter's best friend!" He didn't keep the captured prey as a blast hit him, releasing it as he exclaimed to what was coming right for him. "And the hunted's worst enemy!" The Guys In White had arrived in a plane as O conversed with his partner.

"Decoy ghost liberated. What about the unfriendly?"

"Any prey is good prey. Unleash White Lightning Sidewinders!" Skulker tried to fight back, but he was a lousy aim as the plane dodged and fired back, hitting and stunning him long enough for them to bring the plane to a stop and activate a device to beam the ghost aboard as exclaimed with struggling.

"What? I can't break free!" Left with no choice, he engaged the quick escape. "Auto eject in 3...2...1!" He popped out as his suit was taken and the plane took off as K spoke with the stolen tech.

"Target ghost obtained."

"True, but his suit is hard-wired. If we can access its database-"

"-it may help lead us to our primary objective... the punk known as Danny Phantom."

* * *

The Nasty Burger saw the same friends there as Sam huffed at Danny's dreamy look. "Danny, if you're going to drool, would you mind not doing it over my tofu soy melt?" He paid no heed to that as Tucker spoke.

"Drool on a tofu soy melt isn't drool; it's seasoning." Cedric and Talia were quick as they smacked Tucker across the head as he adjusted his cap as he spoke with Valerie heading off from her shift. "Seriously, Danny, you need to let go. It was over between you and Valerie before it really began." She glanced to them and Danny waved farewell and she smiled back as she left as Danny spoke.

"Yeah, I know, but it's not easy. I mean, do you guys realize what it's like to like somebody you can't be with?" Sam spat out her soda in surprise as Tucker tried to be a dork about it.

"Do you, Sam? huh? Do you-" He got a face full of soda as Sam had chucked her drink at him as she spoke.

"All I know is, you'll never catch me going googly-eyed over some..." She trailed off before making googly-eyes at someone. "...ooh, my." White hair, shades, and a cool dark attire, it was clear that his appearance grabbed at the goth's attention as Lancer also arrived before he spoke to them.

"Ah, there you children are."

"This should be interesting..." Talia nodded as Topaz was also trying to enjoy some good food right now as Lancer introduced the new guy.

"This is Gregor, an exchange student visiting us from... Hungary?" Tucker almost offered his food when Cedric spoke.

"Oh, a European?" They looked to him as he gave them a surprised look before he spoke. "What? Hungary is a country in Europe, also Tucker, put that down."

"Besides, no thank you. I have already eaten." Sam giggled as Danny huffed.

"Ugh..."

"Yes. There is only so many opening lines you can use when you're actually from Hungary."

"Great. You're getting along, and I don't get paid for overtime. You kids have fun, Bye!" Cedric facepalmed as he nearly yelled at the cheapskate of a teacher before Sam spoke.

"So, did you actually eat?"

"Yes, but not here." Talia, Topaz, and Cedric all said 'Ouch' as Gregor continued. "I doubt there's anything I would like to eat here. I don't eat anything with a face on it because I'm ultra-recyclo vegetarian."

"Ultra-recyclo vegetarian?" Danny got annoyed with that exchange as Gregor took Sam's hand when he offered and somehow known what she was having.

"Tofu soy melt. Excellent choice, Miss..."

"Manson. Sam Manson. It's short for Samantha, but my friends call me Sam. You can call me Sam, too. Why am I still talking? I am such a spazz." He scoffed as he took a seat across from her as he spoke.

"I find it charming." They gazed at each other as Danny angrily gripped his soda to drink before the trio's ghost sense went off as Cedric spoke.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but we gotta go... Sam." The five of them bolted away from the table as a ghost attacked the Nasty Burger as Gregor spoke in surprise.

"Ghost?"

"Welcome to Amity Park!" The five make it to the men's restroom, only to find it locked with a ten cent pay lock as Danny offered a hand.

"Dime, please." Tucker flipped it before Cedric flipped one to Topaz as she spoke.

"Thanks, Techsuit!" Both took to their respective restrooms before going after the ghost as Gregor commented on Danny's hair.

"Now, There is a ghost that knows hair!" The ghost took the ceiling as Topaz and Danny took off to follow, but it disappeared before they started to look for it.

"Where'd you go?" A laser blast split his hair as Danny and Topaz gasped to see the Guys in White coming in on the attack. "The Guys in White."

"You need our help?" Tucker called out as Topaz returned volley.

"Nah, we can handle these gatecrashers." They strafed them as the pair dodged and took flight again with evading the attacks. "...Losers who got better." Both charged their blasts before firing, frowning as their shots bounced off shields employed before they went into code again.

"Commence Attack Protocol Z. In accordance with standard rules of engagement, section two, paragraph one."

"Second edition, abridged?"

"Second edition, abridged." O agreed as both pulled out pens and deployed devices that shut off the Demi shields as Danny huffed.

"A lot better." The Guys came back around and opened fired with more weapons, but Danny dodged with Topaz, both even using shields and intangibility to evade before both channeled power to blast. "But we got better, too!" Both fired with a green energy ball that flashed and a sound wave as the Guys were launched off of their rides and dropped into a pool, the rides exploding in the distance before they headed over to save Sam and Tucker from the hands of some new guy. "Now, to rescue Sam and Tucker from the clutches of a smarmy exchange student." They soared over as Tucker asked about the PDA as the party lightly crowded him while Topaz and Danny remained intangible for the moment.

"Nice PDA. Where'd you get the enhanced graphics?"

"I can... how do you Americans say it? Beam you the upgrade software? Europe is always six months ahead of technology curve." Cedric raised his brow to that before focusing back on his own PDA and saved the data, stashing it to loop an arm around Talia, she humming while Gregor flipped Tucker's beret around. "And we wear our berets, just so. It's very goth."

"You're a goth? But you're in white."

"In Hungary, white is the new black." Gregor answered like it was simple fact and Sam laughed at it as they continued on their way, Danny feeling dejected as Topaz rested a hand on his shoulder.

"It's the new fed, better we let it go for now, Danny." He nodded as they continued on, the Guys in White not giving up on their hunt as the next day saw them at Casper High.

* * *

The less said about Tucker's new trend the better as he was running into people on the regular while apologizing. "Oh! Sorry! My bad. Excuse me." Danny finally spoke up about it.

"Will you wear this thing normal?"

"What? Gregor thinks it's cool."

"Who cares about Gregor?" Danny answered with rolling his eyes as Talia and Topaz conversed as well.

"The fact that Babypop is being aggressive about Gregor states a lot."

"I can vouch for the same, this behavior is most profound of our 'resident' hero." Sam's voice spoke up.

"Guys..." Tucker put a hand around Danny's shoulders as he spoke.

"Give you three guesses..." Sam walked over as Cedric also turned to her to gauge her reaction with Danny's.

"I've been looking for you."

"Where, in Gregor's locker?" Tension, a bit of tension as Sam volleyed back.

"Whoa! Thank you, Joe Hostility."

"Look, I'm sorry, Sam. I'm just saying that Gregor-"

"That Gregor... what?" Danny stopped his train of thought before he turned to address Gregor.

"Uh... heh heh... Hi, Gregor."

"By the way, cool shirt." Danny glanced down to his usual shirt before he asked.

"Not too much red messing up the whole white thing for you?"

"It totally works for you." Gregor rested a hand to his face as he continued. "I could never pull off such a look myself."

"Really? ...Thanks!" Gregor scoffed playfully as he held an arm out for Sam.

"Sam, would you care to show me around school?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Sam answered as she took her arm and lead the way as Tucker spoke in his 'blind' state.

"You know... he's not a bad guy."

"I still don't trust him." The ghost senses went off as a ectopus emerged from the flooring and soared through the hall as Danny spoke. "More on this later." The students screamed and ran for it as Danny went ghost in an empty room and Cedric joined him as both took flight and chased the ectopus into a classroom before the squid delivered a tentacle blitz as it left Danny dazed as the ectopus fled again and they headed down into the pool section in chasing the ghost, the Exorcist sealing up as he spoke to Danny.

"Now where did Inks go?" They didn't find out as the Guys in White were in the water as well and blasted at them. "Seriously, you guys don't even have a permit for swimming!" His words were ignored as the white agent spoke behind his rebreather.

"Firing ghost depth charge! Prepare for the Great White hale!"

"Wait! those are only for-" Too little, too late as a charge was released, just as Lancer entered the room.

"Ah, the perfect way to spend lunch. Shakespeare by the pool, and dry white toast." The pool then erupted in water as Danny and Cedric were sent soaring into the ceiling, Danny grabbing Cedric before going intangible, leaving the GiW at the mercy of Lancer as they heard his exclaimed. "Hunt for Red October!" Clearly, the charge was meant for ONLY deep water use...

* * *

Danny, Tucker, Cedric, Talia, and Topaz all gathered in an alley as Danny started it off at the nightly hour. "Think about it. Gregor shows up, so do the Guys in White. He's got the whole white hair-white clothes thing... so do the Guys in White! And what's with the phony accent? and that 'Pfft' thing?"

"It would have worked, if Gregor actually wore black, has white hair, and is putting on a good foreign student performance while we have a pair of baldies in white suits, trying their hardest being stupid." Cedric pointed out as Tucker asked for the more clearer picture.

"So you're saying Gregor's a spy?"

"...And I'm saying that maybe I should keep an invisible eye on him and Sam."

"What? I don't know... you're gonna spy on Sam?" Danny peered out of the alley before he spoke again.

"Hey, it's for her own good." He went invisible with Topaz actually following him before Tucker exclaimed after them in flight.

"It's a bad idea!"

"Shouting angrily into the sky! Very euro-goth. I like it." Gregor reversed the beret again and walked with Sam, hand in hand as the pair returned to return the beret to normal before following the pair of 'new friends' as Tucker still exclaimed.

"It's still a bad idea!" Thus began the long series of Danny spying on Gregor and Sam as they skipped rocks across a pond with Danny watching from the pond while being invisible and intangible. The movie theater had the pair watching a romantic movie and Gregor being subtle about being into Sam as Danny took flight through the place, his shadow appearing for a moment for Sam to notice and look. Later, the pair shared spaghetti as Topaz hummed to the behavior before speaking to Danny.

"Can't we just confront them about this, it will lead to less heartache and more wisdom, besides, we have been with them for three separate moments and no Geeks in White."

"I..." Danny ran a hand over his face as he spoke. "I think... I am more doing a passive-aggressive route here, Topaz. I know that Sam can take care of herself and Gregor is suspicious as much as any unknown guy, but I just..."

"You like her enough to be stalking her?" Danny hummed with blinking before she rested a hand on his shoulder. "Tell you what, we can ask Cedric for the deets later, he could easily uncover who Gregor is for us."

"Right..." They looked back and Danny huffed. "Oh, man. If they share a strand of that spaghetti, I'm going to hurl." Their streak of no GiW was broken when the two agents left a store behind.

"Why do they call it a white sale when none of the clothes are white?" Their watches went off and they smiled to each other before running off to activate their goggles to spot the pair and K spoke with locating them.

"The fox is in the hen-house!"

"Silencers on!" They pointed their weapons, NOT silenced, and blasted the pair, knocking them out of the mall with Sam hearing it to look as the GiW activated modified suits to pursue. "Intangibility suits deployed."

"Operation 'Ivory Mist' is go!" They took flight to continue the chase as both recovered to Danny exclaiming with the pair of them getting ready to get out of there as he called out.

"Close, but you'll never catch us now!"

"Guess again, kiddos." The pair of agents pointed their weapons as Topaz spoke with an irritated tone.

"What's the deal with you two? We're not doing anything! Why can't you leave us alone?"

"An unauthorized pair of entities of scale-seven ectoplasmic power?"

"Prepubescent specters operating freely? Unacceptable!"

"Hey! I have totally hit puberty!" Danny shouted as he reached into his suit and pulled out a hair. "See that? Totally a chest hair!"

"And I'm a growing girl, you think a preteen has a body like this!" Topaz shouted back as she made a move to cover up with spite before the pair blasted at them and shot them out of the air and they landed in their lowered guard to revert back in hiding out as the Guys in White soared overhead in search for them. "For 'government agents', they don't seem to have any thing to really get us down to brass."

"I trust Cedric above everything else when it comes to ghost tech, but could this week get any worse?" Both heard Sam giggling and they turned to see Gregor and her coming out of the mall and stopping under one of the parking lot lights in the nightly air as Gregor spoke.

"Wait. Sam. Is something I must tell you... right here and now."

"Okay... what?" Gregor took her chin and spoke.

"You have little, tiny strand of spaghetti hanging from your lip. Right... here." He then kissed her right on the lips as Danny watched it in horror with Topaz before Sam slipped into it before Danny yelped, neither of them hearing it.

"Okay! Now it's officially worse." He looked down sadly as the moment continued, Topaz resting a hand on his shoulder in apology...

* * *

Danny looked back up and ran a hand through his hair and down his face before he spoke again to the sight. "I'm beginning to think that spying is better left to soulless government drones."

"Don't worry, Babypop, we can talk to her later, let's head home." Danny nodded before both transformed and headed out, they missing the part when Sam recovered and broke free as she exclaimed.

"Whoa! Easy there, big fella. Don't you think we're rushing this a bit?"

"Uh, yes, yes! I forget. The American girls like to take it slow."

"I've just got some things to figure out."

"Of course. I respect this." Gregor took Sam's hand in his and she smiled, but as they headed off, her smile faltered away at how wrong it felt. Day came again and the six of them met back up at Casper before Danny spoke up.

"So... uh, Do anything fun last night?"

"I don't know. Just hung out."

"With Gregor?" Tucker sensed the tone and tried to negate it.

"...I wouldn't do that."

"Why is that any of your business?" Danny came close in inspecting before Sam asked in confusion. "What are you doing?" Danny answered as he returned to his seat.

"I don't know. Just, uh, checking for pimples, dimples... spaghetti sauce."

"Spaghetti-" She gasped to the realization of what that meant. "Were you spying on me?"

"I told you it was a bad idea to spy on her."

"Niiice." The other four said as Sam got up infuriated with Danny.

"You used your ghost powers to spy on me?! You've really crossed the line!" Her tattoo thrummed with power as well as the four took notice of the local flora actually now shifting alive as Danny countered back.

"Not you! I was spying on Gregor! He's so obviously working with the Guys in White!" He got up to match her as she mused with anger.

"Oh, so that's it! The only way a boy could like me is if it was a part of a plot to get to you?"

"No..." Danny's voice cut through and Sam looked like fury incarnate as the plants were now yielding to her rage as Danny spoke. "It was wrong of me to spy on you, and I had this running theory that Gregor is either connected to the Guys in White or that they just so happen to appear so close to each other." Danny back down and they watched as the plants yielded as well as Danny continued. "I'm sorry if what I have been doing was making you angry at me for trying to be the silent watcher, I won't interfere anymore, Sam." She blinked before she huffed and sat back down, her tattoo fading to its blackened color.

"Danny... saying that and coming out with it is pretty... tough of you, I guess Cedric and us are really having an effect on you." Danny hummed as she spoke on, placing her hand on his. "Whatever is going on with Gregor, I can handle it, he is not being pushy, but there are... moments where he is a bit more..."

"Intense?" Danny asked as Sam finished it.

"Romantic, like who watches a movie with the idea of putting an arm around you, late-night skipping stones, spaghetti at a isolated spot in the mall, I don't know what's up, but please... let me handle it." Danny nodded as Gregor arrived to ask.

"Hey, Sam. You want to-"

"Whatever it is, sure!" Sam got up with taking Gregor's hand in dragging him away before Tucker asked.

"I think I can guess the answer, but how'd it go last night?" The Tuck Smack was in order as he faceplanted into his food by Topaz and Talia before Danny spoke.

"Well, I got hit in the face with a rock, Gregor kissed Sam! And the Guys in White attacked again. So there's got to be a connection between them and Gregor, that or it really is a coincidence that both are in the same location at the same time."

"Wait. Hold up. Gregor kissed Sam, on the lips?" Talia asked as Tucker remained faceplanted in his food.

"Yeah! But apparently that's none of my business, not right now anyways." Danny drank from his milk carton, crushed its empty form and tossed it behind him, getting it in as he looked down to the table with a sad look before he looked up to Cedric. "So, what's the..."

"Target..." They blinked as Cedric, having been on his wrist-top during the argument and acceptance, pulled up a file that had... a different name, but same face. "His name is Elliott, he is from Michigan, and he is a playboy, he adapts to someone who he really likes and wants to impress, Gregor is a nickname he usually goes by to keep on the down low."

"How fast did you access that?"

"A minute, which is a bit worse than the thirty second find of Agents Oscar and Kilo's profiles." They blinked again before Cedric huffed. "Agents O and K of the Guys in White."

"Okay, how did you manage that!?"

"Their security is shoddy, but it is hidden in the right places." He returned the records to his device before pulling up the data on the GiW. "Privately owned, sitting on a goldmine of funds, and self-imposed agents of ecto-plasmic protection from otherworldly threats, they don't really do it all that well for being the 'best'." They stopped to hear an agent close by and listened in as the agent spoke.

"The purple-back gorilla information we accessed traces back to an assignment you gave in your class."

"And what makes you think I want to cooperate with the feds?" Lancer answered back before K answered for him with O following up.

"Because ghosts are a constant threat to your student body."

"And because we're with the government and have access to your tax records." Lancer clammed up as he spoke nervously.

"What do you want to know and how fast do you want to know it?" Danny breathed as he spoke.

"This is getting too close for comfort. I need to lay low and let Tucker do his thing."

"Yes! Mole time!" Tucker headed off, with the reverse beret and dropped down a manhole before Cedric spoke.

"Since you're doing that, let's get some training in." They nodded as they headed out...

* * *

While Tucker played the 'mole game' badly, the others built up their abilities as Talia started to conjure up the sandstorm and mold it into an Arabian soldier, Topaz actually learned how to exchange instruments on the fly and each one had a different effect from her own guitar set, but it was Danny who was learning much more as he finally was able to tap into his core and started to manifest ice powers, Cedric donning the Martyr to test that out and it was quite the armor and blessed to him as the lack of control was real for all of them as Danny blushed in embarrassment at the mess left before Talia and Topaz started to melt it away as Cedric huffing in getting out of the semi-frozen machine. "We need to find you a teacher with this sort of power, that is quite the blast."

"No kidding, it took me years to even get my flame going." Topaz answered as she melted the last of the ecto-ice while Talia helped free the Martyr. "And I was self-taught, we need to find a teacher in the Zone, else you are looking for a drop in popular polls."

"That makes a bit of sense, but this was quite the improvement." Cedric answered as he hacked into the GiW mainframe again before he spoke. "I got into the 'White Pelican', the aircraft that the pair of agents must be using to get to the bottom of the Danny issue-"

"Hey!"

"-And I think I found what was helping them out in tracing Danny's location." He brought up a diagram of the thing and the trio blinked before Talia spoke.

"Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that Skulker...?"

"His suit, I am not detecting any ectoplasmic entity in the armor, wherever Skulker is, he is not in the suit anymore." The day went on to Danny called in and nothing was standing out as a Gregor-GiW connection, though Tucker was probably the worst choice of a mole to date as the day arrived and Danny had a chat with Gregor, somehow getting the vibe that Gregor was moving in and Danny could only see... a flirting exchange student instead of a ghost-hunting agent as the day ended at Casper High and it was clear that Tucker and Sam were a bit lost as well as Danny headed home, hoping that the whole mess would be sorted out soon...

* * *

It wasn't when Danny heard his parents talking to someone. "Our son? Hanging out with Danny Phantom? Well, that is preposterous."

"Danny! Get over here!" Jack shouted for Danny to enter and find that who they were talking to was the Guys in White as K pulled out a PDA from his suit, it fixed up and repaired, but it was still the old PDA that Skulker used to hunt down Danny at the zoo.

"We've managed to trace this PDA to Tucker Foley. We figured the ghost must be an associate of his." Danny rubbed his neck in grimace as he asked.

"H-Have you checked... uh, Dash Baxter?"

"Affirmative. He's too much of an oaf to be the ghost kid. and you-you're too prepubescent!"

"Hey!" But O was not done as he continued in ponder.

"And it's not that Manson girl, which leaves the Gregor kid we saw them hanging around with."

"Of course! How did we not see that? He's got the white hair, and so does the ghost boy! Come on!" Both pulled out weapons before rushing out to find Gregor as Jack called out.

"Hey! If you ever need a guy in orange, Jack Fenton's your man!" Jack's hero worship of armed, paranormal enforcers aside, Danny pieced it out with Cedric's clarity in hand.

"Wait. Gregor can't be a spy for them if they're going after him with guns blazing... and Sam and Tucker are right in the line of fire." He turned to his parent and they both nodded before he headed back to his room to wait before he went ghost and took flight, the last place the duo said to be with Gregor was the Amity Park Observatory...

* * *

The nightly hour hovered over the Observatory as Tucker peered through a telescope to see the worlds and stars in the distances. "Cool! It's a new moon! You guys want to take a look?"

"Later, perhaps. I wish to have a word with Sam- In private." Gregor took Sam's hand and leaded her away from Tucker as he spoke. "I will not mince words, Sam. I like you and I would like to go steady." Sam was a bit wary, but she answered all the same.

"With me?"

"With you, and not with your losing friend, Tucker."

"It's 'loser'."

"Then you agree!" Sam was crossed as Tucker tried to speak.

"You two really have to see-"

"No, I don't agree. Tucker may be annoying, but he's one of my best friends. He's part of the package."

"Uh... am I interrupting something? Gregor? Dude? Hello!" Tucker asked before waving a hand in front of Gregor's face before he snapped, like lost the accent and yelled at the African-American tech-lover.

"Dude, Do you ever stop talking?" Tucker frowned as he just went on ranting. "Do you even know how obnoxious you are? With your stupid jokes and lame-o technology? Idiot! ...Uh, I mean... Psssh." He resumed the accent in slinging an arm around Tucker to try being good again. "Is nothing. Uh..." He lost it again as he knew the game was up. "Aw, darn it."

"Wait a minute. You were faking it? The accent? and liking Tucker? Just to get on my good side?"

"Ugh, I'm a guy. Hello! I mean, I really like you, but..." He gestured to Tucker as he continued. "Come on!" Tucker glared as Sam almost glared before she spoke.

"Meh, he can be annoying, but we have been friends since first, but you blew it just now."

"We're... through. Aren't we?"

"Oh, beyond."

"Oh, well." Star and another girl walked by as he exclaimed. "Cheerleaders." He pulled out a varsity jacket from nowhere and put it on as he continued. "Better adjust my pitch." He slipped it on and spoke to them with a different accent. "Hey babes, you like football?" Both watched him go before Tucker asked Sam.

"Can I hit him for you?" The whiz of something coming fast got them to turn to see a missile soar past them and almost take out Star, her friend, and Gregor before they jumped away and the balcony was destroyed as Sam answered.

"Thanks, but I think that's covered." They gasped in looking up to see the Guys in White in the air with their plane as O exclaimed.

"Commence operation 'White Noise, White Heat'." It was a no-brainer who they were targeting as Sam exclaimed to Gregor.

"Gregor, although I think you're the world's biggest jerk- RUN!"

"Huh?" Gregor looked up to see the plane aiming for him and ran for it as blasts came flaring for him as Danny looked around for the Observatory before she made to inquire to himself.

"Now, where-" He didn't need to say more as an explosion was heard and he turned to find the Observatory under attack as he exclaimed. "Oh, no. I'm too late!" He headed over swiftly as the Guys continued their barrage on Gregor before he jumped and fell, sliding to the entrance where the Guys then blasted the large sculpture of Earth's supports before Tucker spoke as well.

"Gregor-"

"Huh?" The large sculpture came crashing down, but Tucker snatched him and pulled him out of there before Gregor exclaimed in awe. "Dude, you saved my life!"

"Yeah, but _I_ despise _you_ now." He reverted his turned beret before Guys appeared again and blasted as O exclaimed.

"We've got the ghost boy on the run." Then someone was knocking on the glass as both looked to the source to find Danny Phantom there.

"You boys looking for me?" He went under and phrased through, snatching both of them and letting the plane fall to explode as the trio on the ground watched it happen before Gregor exclaimed.

"This town is too crazy for me. I'm going back to Michigan!" He removed his shades, reveling green eyes before he ran as Tucker called out.

"Don't you mean Hungary, Greg-or?"

"My name is Elliott!" What none of them knew was that Talia put up quite the smoke screen and the base soon got a new vehicle to disassemble and rework as Danny made his point clear with both operatives in hand.

"Guys, I'm only gonna say this once. Stay away from those kids."

"Or what?" Luck was not on their side as they were soon hurled to the ground, at their base, and were smothered in mud as Danny dusted his hands off, having been told where the local GiW base was, before he took off in flight, the Guys making to get up, but their stopped when an agent had found them.

"O. K. Is that a cleanliness breach? Are your suits completely black with filth?"

"Uh... D-Did you know that in Hungary, black is the new white?" Sadly, they were in trouble as the day rolled back over and had Danny apologizing to him as Cedric and Talia rested by one of the trees, the toll of disabling everything that the GiW could use to trace back was a hassle, but it was a lovely moment that the trio didn't want to interrupt, not even Topaz whose just slept in the base with an excused absence.

"So... I'm sorry. I never should have betrayed your trust by spying on you and your... boyfriend." Sam rolled her eyes as she spoke.

"Ugh. He's not my boyfriend. I dumped him as soon as I figured out that you were right about him being a phony. Apparently, that's the only way a boy can like me."

"That's not true!" Tucker called out, but Danny had a more powerful and flawed speech.

"That's totally not true! There are a million reasons a boy can like you- I mean, you're smart, you're fun, you're cool, you're pretty-" Sam looked away with a blush as Danny spoke. "...Why am I still talking? I am such a spazz. Still friends?" Sam almost made the 'pssh' motion, but she decide to take it differently as she walked up to him and kissed him on the lips before she answered.

"The best."

"My girl..." Tucker spoke up to the tender moment.

"You think I can use that 'Pssh' thing to pick up girls?" Paulina and Star walked by, a bit quicker when they noticed Danny and Sam, giving subtle thumbs-up to them as Tucker honed in and reverted his beret. "Excuse me, ladies." He followed them and did it, only to get a slap or two as Sam and Danny spoke.

"That's a no!" They laughed back it before they headed out, Lancer coming out to find Cedric and Talia, but he didn't yell at them to wake up and just hummed.

"Ahh... young love, I'll let them have their moment..." And so ended the short time of Gregor and Danny's suspect on who he was...


End file.
